Bathurst crash helped to shape Mostert’s career

CHAZ Mostert has reflected on the most brutal incident of his career as the moment that shaped him into the driver he is today as he aims to crown a Supercars milestone with a second Bathurst title.

The Ford star will celebrate his 200th championship race start in the biggest race on the calendar at Mount Panorama this weekend when the endurance season roars to life.

Mostert has experienced the highs and the lows of racing at Mount Panorama, underlined by his thrilling win in the 2014 race before his horror highspeed smash as the defending champion the following year.

In one of Bathurst’s scariest moments, Mostert suffered a broken leg, shattered wrist and ligament damage in his knee in the sickening collision at Forrest Elbow in qualifying.

Reflecting on the big moments of his career ahead of his milestone race, Mostert said he turned the horror moment into a positive for his career.

“You look at moments of past highs and lows and it shapes the person you are and the racer you are today,” Mostert said.

“I look at the big negative that was at that time in 2015 as a positive and turned it around to getting better prepared for the races and stuff like that these days.

“Not that it was great at the time, but I’m grateful something like that happened in my career and I can keep building off it.

“Everything you go through from year to year, your heartbreak, the ups and downs, it shapes who you are.

“For me, it was a real eyeopening experience after that about how to recover with your body and how to get yourself ready for races.”

Since his 2014 win alongside co-driver Paul Morris, Mostert’s best result at Bathurst was fourth place in last year’s race.

But the Tickford Racing ace, who will be paired with James Moffat for the second year in a row, was confident he had the package to challenge in what he predicted would be an open race.

Sitting third in the championship standings – 681 points behind series leader Scott McLaughlin – Mostert said he was the most relaxed he had been ahead of the big race.

“I pushed pretty hard the last couple of weeks in training, but I’ve also made sure that I’ve been mentally chilling out as well,” Mostert said.

“I’m pretty relaxed this week, probably the most relaxed I’ve ever been coming into Bathurst week.”

— Rebecca Williams