Chaz’s blue thunder
A CAREER best pre-season preparation has Chaz Mostert ready to become the man leading Ford’s Supercars charge.
Year after year, fans of the Blue Oval have had to just about solely pin their hopes on stalwart Mark Winterbottom.
Mostert has at times threatened to break through, having challenged Winterbottom throughout 2015 until a monstrous Bathurst smash cut to shreds his Falcon and his title aspirations.
It left him still limping by the time last year’s Clipsal 500 rolled around and the No.55 driver’s mix of a podium and a crash at the Adelaide street event set the tone for an upand-down season.
But 2017 has been a different build-up altogether for the 24year-old, headlined by the chance to get his eye in early at the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier this month in a BMW.
“Yeah, heaps better lead-in than last year, obviously was still a bit on the sore side coming out of the crash from
two years ago,” Mostert told the Bulletin.
“For me to be able to drive something a bit earlier before the first test and getting my eye around blowing out the cobwebs a bit earlier was pretty cool.
“In saying that, the 12 Hour is a separate event … the cars are completely different to anything we drive.
“But it was just good to get some race miles under our belt before the season kicks off which I haven’t had really except for a bit of go-karting here and there for my whole career in Supercars so we’ll see if it makes a difference – I’d like to think so.”
The race anything at any opportunity approach is one that has proven successful for reigning champion Shane van Gisbergen.
Refusing to dwell on last year, Mostert is eager for a “fresh start” but is not expecting a momentum swing back towards him
and his Prodrive Racing Australia outfit to come easily.
“I’m obviously going to be out there trying to fight for the best result we can. There will be 25 other guys doing exactly the same thing so I’m very excited for the challenge,” he said.
The Gold Coaster’s hopes will be boosted by his reuniting with Adam de Borre, the engineer he has previously enjoyed success with including taking out the Bathurst 1000 three years ago.
He has found an ally in Winterbottom, who has backed Mostert to return to his best this season.