Chaz Mostert has won an action-filled Saturday Supercars race on the streets of the Gold Coast after running down multiple race leaders throughout the 85-lap race.
In a battle of differing strategies, Mostert won the hard way. At one stage his Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford Mustang was trapped behind another car as he tried to exit the pitlane – and when he did find a way out, his car was hit by Matt Payne. As a result, Mostert lost ground to the leaders and Payne earned a 15-second penalty due to his Grove Racing team releasing him unsafely into the pitlane.
That did not stop Mostert finding a way past Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters and then, just three laps later, early race leader Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Chevrolet), who could then only watch as Mostert streaked away.
Mostert hunted down David Reynolds (Team 18 Chevrolet) and Kai Allen (Grove Racing Ford), after they both topped up their fuel under the safety car and set off on an economy run to the last half of the race. The strategy was looking like working when, with 24 laps to run, Mostert pitted from the lead and the two took over.
It took Mostert only 10 laps to erase as many seconds of Reynolds’s lead and with 12 laps to run, regain the lead. By the flag he was 7.6089s to the good, but not to Reynolds, as with five laps left he lost second to Allen and then third to Feeney – who then carried on to chase down, then pass, Allen for second. Reynolds gave up the mission with three laps to run, a late fuel stop dropping him to 14th.
Cameron Waters, Tickford Racing Ford Mustang GT
Photo by: Edge Photographics
“It’s been and up and down year but we found our form at the right time,” said Mostert, who was fresh off a class win in the Indianapolis 8 Hour.
“This sport is brutal. We had a fast car and we can do the job tomorrow. You spend half the lap in the air, and my car wasn’t that good on the restarts. But it came good and I was able to truck on.
“It was like bumper cars at the carnival. It’s always a cluster here, I knew the whole field was coming and I just wanted someone to let me in, please!”
Second place went to Feeney, from ninth on the grid, to preserve his lead in the points, with Allen just about keeping out of reach of Waters for third place, after starting from 12th on the grid.
Will Brown took fifth, after the defending champion was forced to start from the rear after a crash in the Top 10 qualifying session. While the Triple Eight Chevrolet might not have been perfect, it had pace enough to make ground throughout the race.
Anton De Pasquale (Team 18 Chevrolet) took sixth ahead of James Courtney (Blanchard Racing Team Ford) and Andre Heimgartner (Brad Jones Racing).
Ryan Wood, Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford Mustang GT
Photo by: Edge Photographics
Polesitter Ryan Wood had a tough day, his early lead evaporating when his WAU Ford developed a fuel leak. After repairs he at least completed the race, nine laps down, in 21st place.
With the result, Mostert is now assured to advance to the next round of the Finals, under Supercars’ win-and-in Finals format.
Supercars returns to action tomorrow with race two, which is due to start at 2:10pm local time.
Supercars Gold Coast – Race 1 results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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