Mostert storms into contention
CHAZ Mostert confirmed himself as a genuine title contender by flogging the field to win the first of four races at the Australian GP.
In a mighty show of speed that came after Dick Johnson Racing (DJR) imploded with a strategy fail, Mostert beat Dave Reynolds by almost eight seconds as the Supercars’ championship resumed at Albert Park.
Continuing the Walkinshaw Andretti United resurgence that began with a seasonending victory at Bathurst last year, Mostert won after Anton De Pasquale and Will Davison were both forced to make a third stop after DJR got it wrong by starting on soft tyres.
“I don’t think many people expected that to happen,” Mostert said.
“Obviously our strategy helped us. We went with the aggressive strategy and it ended up being the right call. I’m just happy because it is just amazing whenever you get a win in this category. I can’t thank the team enough. It is great to get a trophy for WAU.”
WAU made the decision to start on the hard-tyre compound which proved to be the right strategy, with most that started on softs forced to make a third stop.
“I went pretty gung-ho at the start,” Mostert said. “Obviously some others had an issue but our car felt quite good and quite balanced on the hard.”
Forced to start at the back of the field after being caught out by a qualifying crash, van Gisbergen was typically brilliant as he charged his way from last to third.
Reminiscent of his save in Sydney where he came back from a lap down, the Red Bull star made up 20 positions to stunningly extend his championship lead to 129 points.
De Pasquale and Davison looked to be the pair to beat after dominating the two qualifying sessions.
De Pasquale won the first session when he outblasted the field to qualify first for the third race, which will run on Saturday.
“We felt good on the hard tyre (on Thursday),” he said. “That tyre works really well, but the race will be won on the soft.
“We’ve got a bit of work to do.”
De Pasquale looked like he would also take out the fourth qualifying session until he was edged out by his teammate Davison.
Davison will start the fourth and final race, to be held on Sunday before the Formula One, from pole.
“The car was really well-balanced on the hard tyre,” Davison beamed
“It was down to getting the hundredths out of yourself. That last one, I took a few extra risks … but when the balance is like that, it makes it much easier.”