Chaz Mostert strikes late to win wet Sydney race two

Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert survived a late safety car restart to claim victory in a rain-affected second Supercars race of the weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Mostert, who finished third in Saturday’s opener, started seventh on the grid and ran inside the top four for the majority of the 77-lap race, eventually moving to the front late on after switching to the supersoft tyre at the last scheduled pit-stop.

A late rain shower and a third safety car intervention threatened to change the order in the closing stages, but Mostert mastered the restart with three laps remaining to claim the victory from polesitter Brodie Kostecki by just over two seconds.

Dick Johnson Racing’s Anton De Pasquale completed the podium in third.

At the start, De Pasquale bolted off the line from the clean side of the track to beat Kostecki into the first corner while Triple Eight’s rookie Broc Feeney maintained his third position.

Further back there was drama for the Grove Racing Ford Mustang of David Reynolds, who was forced off track at Turn 4 after being squeezed out by the Tickford Mustang of Thomas Randle and the Holden of Macaulay Jones.

Starting on the quicker Dunlop supersoft tyres, both Kostecki and Feeney made short work of De Pasquale early on as rain began to fall around the second half of the circuit by the seventh lap of 77.

The first to fall foul was Race 1 winner Shane van Gisbergen, who slid off track at the final corner, somehow making it through the long grass and back to the pits to fit wet weather tyres.

Keen to avoid a similar fate, a raft of others also made the decision to come in to change tyres, with James Courtney, Lee Holdsworth, Jack Smith and Macaulay Jones taking the opportunity to roll the dice.

Van Gisbergen quickly found that his gamble had failed to pay off as the defending champion was lapped having made the switch to wets too early. He pitted for dry tyres soon after and would eventually get a reprieve from the safety cars to finish sixth in the end.

Kostecki and De Pasquale were the first to come in for their first scheduled stops, with Kostecki switching to softs and, on a longer fuel fill, De Pasquale changing to supersofts for the second stint.

Davison, Mostert and Waters pitted the following lap, with the latter opting for supersofts, while Feeney was the last of the leaders to come in.

Amid all the shuffling around the pit window, Jake Kostecki led the way until he spun at the final corner, while Gary Jacobson also stopped his PremiAir Holden between Turns 3 and 4, bringing out the safety car.

Brown led at the restart but the previous order remained largely the same as Kostecki used his fresh soft rubber to get back in front of his Erebus team-mate at the end of the lap.

De Pasquale was also on a charge, barging past Team 18’s Scott Pye at Turn 2 to take third before grabbing second from Brown on the run to Turn 1 on the following lap.

A second safety car period, after Nick Percat’s Walkinshaw Andretti United Holden got stuck in the gravel following contact with Pye at Turn 7 meant that the second round of stops was brought forward, with the leading cars initially missing the chance to stop.

The stops allowed Mostert to switch to the supersoft tyres which he used to perfect effect as he grabbed a net second from De Pasquale at the restart, initially led by Tickford’s James Courtney.

Mostert quickly moved to the front of the field after getting a superb cutback run on Kostecki exiting Turn 5, with the former subsequently opening up a 4.501s margin over Kostecki.

Keen to make hay in the lead, Mostert continued to extend his gap over Kostecki, as the rain arrived once more entering the closing stages, this time with more intensity than the first shower.

Eventually, everyone would have to pit for wet tyres, with Kostecki the first to take the plunge from second. Mostert and De Pasquale followed the next lap, with Mostert emerging in the lead and De Pasquale – who suffered a loss of team radio – just behind Kostecki in third.

The only driver not to make a stop for wets was the Matt Stone Racing Holden of Jack Le Brocq, who stayed out on dry tyres in a gamble to take a maiden podium for the team.

Mostert quickly caught and passed Le Brocq for the lead before Le Brocq finally slid off track at Turn 3 to bring out the final safety car with just seven laps remaining. Mostert managed this well enough, however, and came home to win from Kostecki and De Pasquale.

Victory and a third place means that Mostert now holds a 12-point lead over De Pasquale heading into the second round of the championship in Tasmania in two weeks.

Van Gisbergen’s damage limitation Sunday leaves him just 27 points off the top of the standings in third, three clear of Kostecki.