AIN’T NO PLEASING CHAZ & DAVE
Chaz Mostert may have been Tickford Racing’s standout performer on Sunday at Mount Panorama, but that doesn’t mean he was the most popular man in the garage.
The #55 crew chose to invert their driver strategy early in the race, which meant James Moffat started and Mostert took over after the first stint. As a result, Mostert and David Russell – co-driver for the Cam Waters Falcon on the other side of the garage – found themselves fighting for seventh just after the first round of stops.
Knowing that making ground on the co-drivers was key to the strategy working, Mostert got a little impatient at Forrest’s Elbow. He slapped the inside of the Monster Ford, sending Russell into the wall. Mostert kept going, while Russell limped back to the pits, his and Waters’ hopes of a strong result shattered.
When the TV cameras came calling, Waters didn’t hold back, referencing contact between the two in 2017: “I don’t know what Chaz was doing trying to pass him and put him in the fence. Pretty dumb, 30 laps into the race. Two years in a row, got taken out by Chaz.”
Even more damning was what the in-car mic picked up as Waters consulted with Russell when the car arrived back in the garage. “Sorry man, we just got f*cked up by our f*cking team-mate,” he shouted.
Mostert, who finished fourth, later took the blame. “It’s an absolute shame for the team and it’s not the way I want to go out there racing,” he said. “I just purely went to the inside, I couldn’t go any more narrow. I just ran out of room and it’s always pretty tight at the Elbow.
“I’m sorry to Cam and Dave, but it’s a tough day for the team – it would have been nice to get them a trophy.”