‘Can’t believe it’: Supercars champ wins The Bend 500
Joanna Guelas |
Defending Supercars champion Chaz Mostert has triumphed in the first endurance race of the season, navigating wet and wild conditions to claim The Bend 500.
Mostert triumphed for Walkinshaw TWG Racing with co-driver Fabian Coulthard in a stop-start 147-lap race on Saturday that included three safety cars.
It was Mostert’s second win of his title defence, last driving the new Toyota Supra to victory in May in Tasmania.
“I can’t believe it. I can’t f***king believe it,” Mostert said over the race radio.
Last year’s grand finalist Kai Allen and co-driver Tim Slade were second, ahead of Walkinshaw’s all-New Zealand line-up Ryan Wood and Jaxon Evans in third.
Allen’s Grove Racing teammate Matt Payne crossed the finish line in fourth but was demoted to sixth with a five-second penalty for colliding with rookie Jayden Ojeda in the final stages.
PremiAir Racing driver Ojeda took fifth place, behind Triple Eight’s Will Brown.
Series leader Broc Feeney endured a horror outing with co-driver Nick Percat, finishing 24th out of 26 in the Triple Eight car.
Last year’s race winners Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood were nowhere near the top, finishing 17th after starting from pole position.
Torrential rain had wreaked havoc from lap 25, with Rylan Gray’s Dick Johnson Racing co-driver Tony D’Alberto bringing out the first yellow flag after spinning off track due to aquaplaning.
Race control kept the safety car out until the rain dispersed enough on lap 33, but a second stint due to extreme weather was required from lap 45.
The race restarted on lap 50, only for further rain to force a third yellow flag three laps later.
Conditions finally eased from lap 59, with Mostert doggedly working his way to the lead from 11.
Hazelwood had squandered Kostecki’s hard-earned pole position and was swallowed by the front pack after failing to launch from lights out.
Normally near-flawless, the Dick Johnson Racing co-driver struggled through his 54-lap stint with tyre grip and later copped a 15-second penalty for speeding in pit lane.
Tickford co-driver Mark Winterbottom had shot to the top spot in Cam Waters’ car with a ruthless carve from the outside, but was slapped with the same penalty for spinning Payne’s co-driver Will Davison off the track at the first turn.
Waters and Winterbottom settled for a finish in 15th.
Triple Eight star Brown fell short of the podium after recovering from co-driver Scott Pye’s horrible start.
Pye had first suffered a tyre puncture on lap two, re-joined the field in 25th a lap behind, then ran off the track before serving a 15-second driving infringement penalty.
Fellow Triple Eight co-driver Percat’s trials and tribulations began on lap six when he was nudged into a spin by Team 18’s Lee Holdsworth.
Percat was then hit by Blanchard Racing Team rookie Zak Best en route to turn three on lap 33, suffering significant right rear suspension damage.
Like many in the 26-strong field, co-drivers Holdsworth and Best were made to serve a 15-second penalty.
Holdsworth finished in eighth with main driver Anton De Pasquale, while Best and Aaron Cameron were 25th.
THE BEND 500 RESULTS:
1. Chaz Mostert/Fabian Coulthard (Walkinshaw TWG Racing)
2. Kai Allen/Tim Slade (Grove Racing)
3. Ryan Wood/Jaxon Evans (Walkinshaw)
4. Will Brown/Scott Pye (Triple Eight Race Engineering)
5. Jayden Ojeda/David Russell (PremiAir Racing)
AAP