Darwin Supercars: Mostert wins opener, slow stop denies van Gisbergen

The race got off to a chaotic start, as poleman Anton De Pasquale was outfoxed by Shane van Gisbergen into Turn 1, the Triple Eight Holden driver drifting right before pulling a surprise move down the inside. 

De Pasquale's Dick Johnson Racing Mustang was then tapped into a spin by Scott Pye, who bounced over the inside kerb, before being hit again by a slow-starting Mark Winterbottom.

There was another few hits coming too, Todd Hazelwood, Jack Smith, Fabian Coulthard and Garry Jacobson all crunching into the poleman's stricken car, with Pye earning a drive-through penalty for his trouble.

The clean-up soaked up the first six laps of the race, the race going green again on lap seven with van Gisbergen leading Nick Percat and Mostert.

They ran in that order until lap 10, when Mostert slid up the inside of Percat into Turn 1. The Walkinshaw Andretti United driver then settled into second, a little over two seconds behind the leader.

At that point it looked like van Gisbergen's race to lose, until he came in for his lap 22 stop. A stubborn right-rear wheel nut meant the service took 30 seconds, the Kiwi re-joining the race way down in 20th.

That left Mostert with a commanding lead, his final margin 12.3s over Cam Waters - who barged his way past Percat during the second stint.

"Starting eighth I was just thinking I hope I get through Turn 1," said Mostert. "Then I lucked in to coming out of Turn 1 in third. 

Race winner Chaz Mostert, Walkinshaw Andretti United

Photo by: Edge Photographics

"I was pretty quick at the start and I was a bit worried about that, normally when you have a quick car at the start you get worried that the degradation is going to come. I'm super pumped, it's good to have a fast race car."

Percat finished third on the road but will now face a post-race investigation regarding a breach of the minimum tyre pressure regulations.

His car was clocked with pressures under the minimum 17psi as he rolled down pitlane following his stop, that matter now in the hands of the stewards. 

Fourth came down to a battle between Brodie Kostecki (Erebus Holden) and James Courtney (Tickford Ford), which came to a head three laps from the end when Courtney dived up the inside of Kostecki at Turn 5.

The pair made contact, Kostecki short-cutting the track to Turn 7 to retain his position before being hit with a five-second penalty for an improper re-join. That dropped him from fourth on the road to ninth in the results.

Kostecki's Erebus team-mate Will Brown, racing in the stifling heat without a working cool suit, finished fifth behind Courtney.

Brothers Jake and Kurt Kostecki finished an impressive sixth and seventh ahead of Tim Slade.

Van Gisbergen fought his way back to 13th, one spot behind team-mate Jamie Whincup on what was a tough day for Triple Eight.

That means his series lead was only cut by two points back to 188, although Mostert is now only 190 points behind the Kiwi. 

Race results:

Cla	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	48'28.532
2	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	48'40.922	12.390
3	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	48'43.893	15.361
4	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	48'49.954	21.421
5	Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	48'51.847	23.314
6	Jake Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	48'53.295	24.763
7	Kurt Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	48'53.776	25.244
8	Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	48'54.193	25.660
9	Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	48'54.262	25.730
10	Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	48'54.516	25.984
11	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	48'55.029	26.497
12	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	48'55.236	26.704
13	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	48'57.042	28.509
14	Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	48'57.772	29.240
15	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	48'58.622	30.089
16	Zane Goddard	Holden Commodore ZB	49'03.882	35.349
17	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	49'05.456	36.924
18	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	49'05.650	37.117
19	David Reynolds	Ford Mustang GT	49'0600000	166:40'31.4673
20	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	49'08.155	39.622
21	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	48'38.273	2 Laps
22	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	48'36.825	9 Laps
	Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT
	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB
	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore ZB
	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB
View full results