Chaz breaks win drought
CHAZ Mostert broke a twoyear drought to put the brakes on Triple Eight’s dominant start to the Supercars championship as Shane van Gisbergen’s unbeaten charge came to an end at Symmons Plains.
After Triple Eight stormed to victory in the opening seven races of the year – the first six by van Gisbergen – Mostert became the first driver outside the Red Bull garage to triumph in 2021 and breathed competition into the championship fight.
The 2014 Bathurst winner claimed his first race win since the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in 2019 – and his first for Walkinshaw Andretti United – to edge closer in the title battle with leaders van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup.
In a clinical drive after getting the jump on pole-sitter Cameron Waters off the start line, Mostert finished more than 10 seconds clear of second-placed Anton De Pasquale. His Dick Johnson Racing teammate finished third.
Van Gisbergen and Whincup finished sixth and seventh, while Tickford Racing’s Waters was fourth after claiming two poles on Sunday.
Mostert felt the win with WAU had been a long time coming.
“The last win was 2019 before this year, it’s been a long time,” Mostert said.
“No secret that last year I came to a brand new team with WAU and it was definitely a building year to try and work on the car.
“I think we rolled out a lot better this year but we’re still just trying to find our feet a bit. I’m just super pumped to finally get the win off the back. It’s a relief.
“I felt like I’ve lost 20kg walking from the podium back to the shed, it’s a pretty crazy feeling.”
Mostert banked an extra five points for the fastest lap and now sits 26 points behind second-placed Whincup in the championship standings.
He said he and the team’s
Will Davison aim was to now attack the championship leaders.
“We are there or thereabouts to get stuck into them,” Mostert said.
“If we can beat them week in, week out, that’s the next thing that we have to keep working towards. We need to keep pushing forward.”
Earlier on Sunday, van Gisbergen’s unbeaten start to the Supercars season came to an end when Whincup claimed the second of three sprint races.
Sealing the second onetwo finish for Triple Eight for the weekend, Whincup led home van Gisbergen and Davison to bring up his 13th win at the Tasmanian circuit.
Van Gisbergen had dominated to win the opening six races and on Saturday had equalled the most successful start to a Supercars season.
“For the first qualifying session today, we couldn’t quite nail the session compared to yesterday, which was a shame, and that made it more difficult for today’s races,” van Gisbergen said.