In the 2001–02 Volvo Ocean Race he led Illbruck Challenge that was based in Leverkusen to an overwhelming victory in the arguably toughest sailing race around the world. Of notable interest was the fact that Illbruck set the world 24 hours speed record for monohulls. The record of 484 nautical miles was completed at 20:02 on April 30 during Leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race and was confirmed by the World Sailing Speed Record Council. This sparked an unprecedented sailing boom in Germany that led to thousands of sailing fans and Illbruck supporters awaiting Kostecki and his crew finishing their last leg from Gothenburg to Kiel.
He did the 2005–06 Volvo Ocean Race with Ericsson. He was also designated skipper for Ericsson’s in the next Race (2008/2009) but resigned from his position in August 2007 for family reasons
In 2008, the then three times America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts, who had just recently been appointed CEO of Larry Ellison's America’s Cup Team BMW Oracle Racing, hired Kostecki for his afterguard. The next America’s cup match took place between the defender, the Swiss team Alinghi, and BMW Oracle, in Valencia (Spain) in February 2010. With Kostecki as tactician, the American team won both races against the defender and thus brought back the oldest trophy in sports history to the United States after 15 years.
Other
In 1997, he won the One Design 48 Championship, and the Malaysia Challenge Grand Prix. Kostecki became very popular in Europe as skipper and helmsman of the German yachts all called "Pinta" owned by the Illibruck family.
^AmericaOne. "AmericaOne - John Kostecki". www.americaone.org. Archived from the original on April 26, 2012. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
^ a b c d e f g"John KOSTECKI (USA)". sailing.org. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
^"Convincing victory for Ngoni at Soto 40 Worlds". sailing.org. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
^"Catapult Wins J/70 World Championship >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News". October 1, 2016. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
^"Illbruck the New 2016 Melges 20 World Champion, Savoini Claims Corinthian". Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
^"Super Steady Platoon Win Rolex TP52 World Title". TP52 Class. Archived from the original on March 3, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
^Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "John Kostecki". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 24, 2010.
^"Yachting". May 1, 1991. Archived from the original on June 16, 2022. Retrieved July 27, 2017 – via Google Books.
^Illbruck Sets 24-Hour Monohull World Speed Record, Cruising World magazine, archived from the original on July 8, 2011, retrieved January 10, 2011
^Walker, Dan. "Kostecki, John - 2012 Hall of Fame". www.nshof.org. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.