Mustangs drive Ford round The Bend to end victory drought
Ford’s 220-day winless streak in Australian Supercars was snapped by three different Mustang winners from the three sprint races at The Bend last weekend.
The Saturday belonged to Kelly Grove Racing’s Andre Heimgartner, the 25-yearold Kiwi taking a first career victory in dominant fashion. He got the day off to a perfect start with pole position in wet conditions thanks to a clever call to run the same tyre set through all three parts of qualifying rather than constantly trying to warm up fresh rubber. He was then shuffled back to third at the start after making a sluggish getaway, only for Chaz Mostert and Anton De Pasquale to run wide on consecutive corners on the first lap in the tricky damp conditions.
Once back in front there was no stopping Heimgartner in terms of pace, his lead a handy seven seconds when he pitted for slick tyres on lap seven. However, the team almost threw the win away during the stop when he was released into the side of Jamie Whincup in the lane, which drew a fivesecond penalty. Heimgartner had the speed to clear the reprimand, though, charging to a 9s win over Mostert and De Pasquale.
It was dry running all day on Sunday, De Pasquale making a perfect start when he took his first two career poles from the back-to-back qualifying sessions in the morning. He then converted the first of those poles for his first win in Dick Johnson Racing colours in race two, leading a DJR 1-2 in what was Ford’s 400th Australian Touring Car Championship/supercars victory.
That race featured a nasty opening-lap crash for title contenders and old rivals Mostert and Cam Waters. Looking to avoid Tim Slade on the outside of Turn 6, Mostert inadvertently crunched the right-rear of Waters’ car as the trio went three-wide. The damage was bad enough to take them both out of the race.
De Pasquale then looked set to double up on wins in the final race of the weekend, only for an engine issue to take him out of the lead on lap three. That left Waters and his hastily repaired Mustang out front, the Tickford driver leading Whincup across the first stint. But as the race wore on it was Shane van Gisbergen that emerged as Waters’ biggest threat, the Kiwi running a long first stint before coming home strong with better tyre condition. He couldn’t quite find a way through, though, Waters holding on by just over half a second.
While van Gisbergen didn’t add to his 2021 tally of wins, he did leave South Australia with an improved points lead. With a seventh, third and second, he was the unofficial round winner, the gap to Whincup now 190 points. He said: “We struggled for pace all weekend, but [we were] consistent and stayed out of trouble.”