Chaz Mostert has driven a supreme race to win a famous Bathurst 1000.
The Holden star repeatedly pulled away from the field in a frenetic final dash to the finish line and held his nerve in the final laps to win his second Peter Brock Trophy as the king of the mountain for 2021.
Mt Panorama provided all the expected drama and it reached fever pitch with seven laps remaining when second-placed driver Shane van Gisbergen’s Red Bull Holden fell apart.
Van Gisbergen had been the only driver with a chance to put pressure on Mostert in the final laps — but his heartbreak became Mostert’s ecstasy.
It completes the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver’s comeback from his traumatic Bathurst 2014 crash where he shattered bones in his leg.
“A pretty tough race. When we did that tyre, I thought it would be a tough slog,” Mostert said.
“Credit to the guys, this car has been speedy all weekend.
“We started pole and we won the race. Every time you start on pole, you never think you will win it. Credit to this car. Credit to the team. I left it all out there.”
He celebrated with a few burnouts on his way into the pit lane for the final time.
Mostert and co-driver Lee Holdsworth — who is a Bathurst champion for the first time in his career — won ahead of Cam Waters, Brodie Kostecki and Jamie Whincup.
Waters finished as the runner-up for the second consecutive year, while Whincup walks away from Supercars finishing agonisingly short of a podium finishing his final race.
Here’s how the full field finished at the end of 161 laps and almost seven hours of racing.
Mostert and his rollercoaster comeback from the brink of disaster was the biggest story of the day after he suffered an early tyre explosion.
His day appeared to be blown to pieces after a tyre deflation that saw him plummet down the leaderboard. Instead he has created another iconic story that will go into Australian motorsport folklore.
He would have been almost untouchable if not for the tyre problem after he also secured pole position in Saturday’s Top 10 Shootout, breaking the lap record.
He was also at the centre of the drama at the death of the great race when he pitted early to catch rivals van Gisbergen, Waters and Whincup on the hop.
In a race that swung in every direction in the final laps, van Gisbergen’s tyre puncture was the decisive moment.
It was a dream result for Mostert, who opened up a five second lead on Waters as van Gisbergen was forced to pit.
- News.com.au
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