Phillip Island Supercars: Mostert cruises to fairytale win

The Prodrive Racing Australia driver executed a two-stop strategy to perfection, a revised set-up allowing him to stretch his Dunlops for 27 laps to take his first win since breaking his leg at Mount Panorama back in October 2015.

“It’s been long enough,” said Mostert. “After yesterday, blowing two right rears, [the team] turned this car upside down. I’m ecstatic. It means a lot.”

Mark Winterbottom made it a PRA 1-2, while David Reynolds completed the podium for Erebus.

Crack squad DJR Team Penske’s day was hit with penalties and poor strategy, while Triple Eight was struck by tyre failures despite generally improved reliability from the Dunlop rubber compared to yesterday.

Story of the race

For the second time in as many days polesitter Scott McLaughlin was beaten to Turn 1 by his teammate Fabian Coulthard.

Coulthard’s lead didn’t last long, though, the #12 Penske Ford one of 24 cars to dive into the pits at the end of the first lap when the Safety Car was called to recover Will Davison’s beached Commodore.

McLaughlin was the only car to stay out, which meant he avoided stacking and took over the lead. When the race restarted he put that clean air to good effect, too, pulling the lead over Coulthard out to over 10 seconds before diving into the lane for his first stop.

The Kiwi took on more than 100 litres of fuel, the long stop burying him back outside the Top 20. But when the Safety Car was called again on Lap 24 – after both Red Bull Triple Eight cars suffered right-rear tyre failures – McLaughlin was filtered back to the front.

When the race restart on Lap 30 it was McLaughlin leading Mostert – who was fuelled to the end and all of a sudden a genuine contender.

Coulthard, meanwhile, dropped back through the field as he opted to cycle through the pits under Safety Car and take on more of the required fuel load.

Being stuck back in the pack wound up being the last of Coulthard’s issues, though; it was quickly noted that after making his second stop he left pitlane while the red light was showing, the points leader smacked with a drive-through penalties for his effort. He served it immediately, and popped back out in 23rd spot, his chances of victory done and dusted.

The next lead change came on Lap 41 when McLaughlin dived into the lane to take on what was left of his fuel allocation. Mostert took over at the front, while McLaughlin came out in 22nd after repairing some loose bodywork made the stop slightly longer than it needed to be.

At that point Mostert led by 2.3s over Winterbottom and Courtney, although the HSV Commodore needed to stop again. David Reynolds was fourth, fuelled to the end like Mostert and Winterbottom.

The big question for Mostert, Winterbottom, and Reynolds, though, was whether the Dunlops would make it to the finish.

In the end, the tyres did just enough. Mostert came home ahead of his teammate, while Reynolds took a fairytale third for small team Erebus.

McLaughlin, meanwhile, could only make his way back to 14th, although he was best of the ‘big two’. Shan van Gisbergen finished back in 16th, Coulthard in 17th, and Jamie Whincup in 18th.

James Moffat finished fourth for Garry Rogers Motorsport, effectively inheriting the spot with five laps to go when Craig Lowndes suffered Triple Eight’s third tyre failure of the day.

Lee Holdsworth finished fifth, Cam Waters sixth, and Garth Tander seventh.

Dale Wood capped off a great day for Erebus with eighth.

Race Results:

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	Gap
1	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG-X	57	-
2	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG-X	57	2.9040	2.904
3	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	57	3.5476	3.548
4	34	James Moffat	Holden Commodore VF	57	9.9341	9.934
5	18	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	57	10.6153	10.615
6	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG-X	57	16.3874	16.387
7	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	57	17.7569	17.757
8	99	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	57	21.2174	21.217
9	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	57	22.3449	22.345
10	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	57	22.5345	22.535
11	7	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	57	24.3999	24.400
12	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	57	27.7410	27.741
13	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	57	30.9586	30.959
14	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG-X	57	31.3485	31.349
15	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	57	36.0152	36.015
16	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	57	40.4538	40.454
17	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG-X	57	40.5929	40.593
18	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	57	41.0715	41.072
19	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	57	41.2462	41.246
20	22	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	57	41.5721	41.572
21	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	57	1'04.0552	1'04.055
22	62	Alex Rullo	Holden Commodore VF	57	1'17.8729	1'17.873
23	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	56	1 lap	1 lap
24	3	Taz Douglas	Holden Commodore VF	55	2 laps	2 laps
25	56	Jason Bright	Ford Falcon FG-X	50	7 laps	7 laps
26	19	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	0