Race report
Supercars Albert Park
Albert Park Supercars: Mostert wins, McLaughlin crashes pre-race
Chaz Mostert won a wild third Supercars race at Albert Park that saw title contenders Scott McLaughlin and Cam Waters crash on the warm-up lap.
Andrew van Leeuwen
Edited: Mar 16, 2019, 10:09 AM
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The front row was wiped out by a bizarre warm-up lap clash, with neither points leader McLaughlin or Waters making the start thanks to the damage.
McLaughlin – starting from pole and looking for a fifth-consecutive win – was smashed in the right-rear by Waters, who thought he'd been sighted by the Kiwi while trying to get past.
The shunt left the front row free and gave the Brad Jones Racing Holdens of Tim Slade and Nick Percat clean air on the run to Turn 1.
The drama didn't stop there. Jamie Whincup split the BJR cars on the run to Turn 1, before taking the lead from Slade later in the lap. In the process of losing the lead Slade also managed to run Percat off the road, dumping him back to seventh.
As the first stint wore on Whincup eased away at the front, as Slade found himself with mirrors full of Mostert.
On Lap 10 Mostert decided to try the undercut on Slade and made his stop.
Whincup followed suit a lap later with a 3.5s lead, while Slade opted to stay out until Lap 13.
Pitting that lap before Whincup helped Mostert close up on the effective leader as the second stint kicked off, and on Lap 14 the Tickford driver slid past the Red Bull Holden to take over at the front.
Slade, meanwhile, resumed around 6s behind the new leader on those younger tyres.
There was a scare for Mostert in the form of a Lap 20 Safety Car, called to retrieve a wheel that parted ways with Shane van Gisbergen's Red Bull Holden.
That gave Slade a sniff on his better rubber, however a sluggish Lap 22 restart for Whincup allowed Mostert to break away, setting up a 1.2s win.
"I really love this track and the boys gave me a great car," Mostert said.
"I really used the warm tyre [after the stop] to my advantage. I knew [Whincup] was still trying to get it up.
"I was just one lap in front of him where my tyre was at, so I really picked the best spot that I could, just got him... and like the first stint behind Sladey and J-Dub, the car in front is the quicker one.
"I was really happy to get the pass done and get the win for the boys."
Whincup held on to second, with Slade, David Reynolds and Fabian Coulthard not far behind.
Scott Pye came home sixth ahead of Will Davison and James Courtney, Percat finished ninth after that early bump from Slade, and Andre Heimgartner led the way for Nissan in 10th.
Van Gisbergen's miserable weekend continued with a 22nd place finish thanks to that lost wheel five laps from the end.
Following yesterday's engine failure, the Kiwi looked set to make up some points after running an overcut strategy and finding himself at the back end of the Top 10 with good tyre condition for the run home.
However that was undone by the rogue right-rear, which required a pair of trips through the lane before he limped to the end.
Race results:
Cla # Driver Car Gap 1 55 
Chaz Mostert Ford Mustang GT 2 88 
Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore ZB 1.211 3 14 Tim Slade Holden Commodore ZB 1.908 4 9 
David Reynolds Holden Commodore ZB 2.388 5 12 
Fabian Coulthard Ford Mustang GT 3.641 6 2 Scott Pye Holden Commodore ZB 4.895 7 23 
Will Davison Ford Mustang GT 5.270 8 22 
James Courtney Holden Commodore ZB 8.658 9 8 Nick Percat Holden Commodore ZB 9.493 10 7 
Andre Heimgartner Nissan Altima L33 9.982 11 99 
Anton De Pasquale Holden Commodore ZB 10.304 12 5 Lee Holdsworth Ford Mustang GT 10.685 13 18 
Mark Winterbottom Holden Commodore ZB 10.853 14 35 
Todd Hazelwood Holden Commodore ZB 11.371 15 19 Jack Le Brocq Holden Commodore ZB 12.233 16 15 
Rick Kelly Nissan Altima L33 12.577 17 33 
Richie Stanaway Holden Commodore ZB 12.910 18 78 
Simona de Silvestro Nissan Altima L33 12.928 19 34 James Golding Holden Commodore ZB 13.693 20 3 Garry Jacobson Nissan Altima L33 16.147 21 21 Macauley Jones Holden Commodore ZB 16.750 22 97 
Shane van Gisbergen Holden Commodore ZB 2 Laps 17 Scott McLaughlin Ford Mustang GT 25 Laps 6 Cameron Waters Ford Mustang GT 25 Laps
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