Mostert blasts his way into folklore
CHAZ Mostert defied the memory of the Mount Panorama crash that almost killed him, a blown tyre and a rampaging Shane van Gisbergen to become a two-time Bathurst champion.
In a legend-making moment that came just six years after he narrowly survived a horrifying 50G crash, Mostert erased the memory of his darkest day with the drive of his life.
Overcoming six lead erasing safety cars – one of them caused by a track invading echidna – the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver blasted his way into V8 folklore with an unstoppable drive.
“I am now a two-time champion and it feels awesome,” Mostert said. “And it is full credit to my team because we had the fastest car all weekend.”
Also announcing himself and his team as a reborn force, Mostert overcame a series of setbacks headlined by a blown tyre to win another Bathurst 1000 classic.
Mostert had forced half the field off the lead lap when the blown tyre cost him 11 places.
“It was a pretty tough race,” Molstert said. “I thought it was going to\ be another bad day when I blew that tyre. I had to change my driving style after I stopped because I was worried about blowing another one. I tried to protect them by not attacking the kerbs and that wasn’t easy to do when I was still trying to extract pace.”
Strapped into a WAU rocketship, Mostert was forced to deal with four late safety cars when the race became an all out war.
“I didn’t mind all the safety cars because my car was really fast,” Mostert said. “It felt great all day and I was able to give it full beans on the restarts.
“It was pretty tough when I had van Giusberen breathing down my neck.”
The former Ford driver also conquered his mental demons by defeating the track that almost ended his career.
Mostert suffered a broken femur, wrist and knee injuries in a horror 2015 crash, which registered 50G.
“I started hearing all these funny noises in my head when I got 10 laps to go,” Mostert said. “I just had to ignore them and I managed to stay in front.”
Flawlessly backing up Mostert with inch perfect stints, WAU co-driver Lee Holdsworth finally fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming a Bathurst champion.
Holdsworth was undisputedly the best co-drive on the grid in a performance that suggests he should still be driving full-time.
“It has been a dream this week,” Holdsworth said.
“It isn’t all going to sink in for a long time. It was just a perfect week. Everything went to plan and we rolled out with such a quick car.”
The emphatic victory announced the return of WAU as a force with the sleeping giant awakening to take out yet another epic Bathurst crown.