Supercars Bathurst 1000: Mostert/Holdsworth score dominant win

The pair were sublime across the the 161-lap race, with a tyre scare in the first half of the race and a dicey moment battling the Triple Eight cars in the second their only hints of trouble.

In the end the car had unbeatable pace, Mostert able to hold off 2020 winner Shane van Gisbergen's Triple Eight Holden in a straight fight across the last two stints.

Mostert is now a two-time Bathurst winner, this latest triumph joining his remarkable 2014 crown when Jamie Whincup ran out of fuel on the last lap. For Holdsworth meanwhile this is a maiden Bathurst 1000 victory, his fourth career race win and first win since 2014. 

It's also Walkinshaw Andretti United's eighth Bathurst 1000 win, and first since Garth Tander and Nick Percat in 2011.

From pole, Holdsworth recovered from a slightly sluggish start by barging past Tony D'Alberto (in Anton De Pasquale's #11 Dick Johnson Racing Ford) at the Chase on lap one to grab the lead.

He then controlled the first stint until the safety car made its first appearance on lap 17 when Thomas Randle put the #44 Tickford Mustang into the wall at Hell Corner.

That prompted a wave of first stops, Holdsworth continuing for a second stint in the lead before handing over to Mostert on lap 37.

Race winner Chaz Mostert, Lee Holdsworth, Walkinshaw Andretti United Holden

Photo by: Edge Photographics

On lap 49, Mostert's left-rear tyre delaminated as he came across Skyline. He limped back to the pits for an unscheduled stop, resuming in 12th before charging back into contention with a stirring drive across the fourth stint.

Cam Waters led in the remaining Tickford Ford from van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki (Erebus Holden) all handed their cars back to their co-drivers for the fourth stint, as Mostert cycled to the lead from Waters' co-driver James Moffatt and Tander (in for van Gisbergen).

On lap 60 Mostert pitted from the lead to hand his car back to Holdsworth, who resumed in sixth place. He then filtered back to the top as the likes of De Pasquale (lap 76), Moffat (lap 77) and Tander (lap 83) all took stops.

Holdsworth led into the second half of the race before pitting on lap 92 to kick off his final stint of the race.

That left Moffat leading Tander, the pair running nose-to-tail until lap 99 when handed back to Waters. Tander did likewise to give van Gisbergen the #888 Holden a lap later as Holdsworth filtered back into the lead of the race.

Five laps later, the safety car made its second appearance of the race for the most bizarre of reasons – an echidna on the circuit. Holdsworth used that opportunity to pit and hand over to Mostert, who resumed behind van Gisbergen behind the safety car.

On his final start as a full-time driver, Whincup wound up third in the queue, which led to some fascinating formation flying from the Triple Eight cars a lap after the restart.

Mostert tried to round up van Gisbergen into Griffins, but the 2021 champion forced Mostert wide so that Whincup could sneak through at the Cutting.

De Pasquale followed Whincup through, demoting Mostert to fourth, while Kostecki pulled an incredible move inside Waters on the way to the Metal Grate for fifth.

Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth, Walkinshaw Andretti United Holden Commodore

Photo by: Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics

Mostert began his second fightback on lap 112, passing De Pasquale for third into Murray's, right before the safety car was called again when Jayden Ojeda hit the wall.

That prompted a wave of stops, in which Whincup lost out as he had to stack behind van Gisbergen. Mostert, meanwhile, was the big winner as he short-filled to jump van Gisbergen.

Mostert quickly passed an out-of-sync David Reynolds after the restart to resume the lead, which he kept after a fourth safety car when Jake Kostecki hit the wall at the Elbow on lap 121.

The race went green again on lap 125, Mostert leading van Gisbergen and Brodie Kostecki in what had boiled down to a straight fight to the flag. Mostert did his best to bolt in the laps that followed, lowering the fastest lap several times as he built a gap of 2.5s over van Gisbergen.

The gap was more like five seconds by the time Mostert came in for his final stop of the race on lap 138, Van Gisbergen almost clouting the wall on the way into the lane when he followed suit a lap later. The top two remained in the same order, as Waters jumped Kostecki for third.

Two more safety car interruptions followed when De Pasquale rolled to a stop in the Cutting with a suspected driveline issue, before Whincup's 2022 replacement Broc Feeney – who was running an impressive ninth – smacked the wall at Sulman Park. 

Following that sixth safety car, the race resumed on lap 145 with Mostert again able to gap van Gisbergen. He looked as if he was going to have to settle for second until a right-front tyre delaminated seven laps from home, forcing him to limp slowly back to the pits and finish an unrepresentative 18th.

All of that was great news to Mostert, who was left nearly four seconds down the road from Waters as he cruised to victory, Waters and Moffat finishing second despite a fuel consumption scare due to a faulty sensor in the final stint.

Kostecki and David Russell were third, as Whincup and Craig Lowndes grabbed fourth. Bryce Fullwood and Warren Luff finished a fine fifth to cap off an incredible day for Walkinshaw Andretti United ahead of Nick Percat and Dale Wood.

James Courtney and Randle finished a remarkable seventh after a strong recovery drive. Todd Hazelwood/Dean Fiore, Tim Slade/Tim Blanchard and Will Davison/Alex Davison rounded out the top 10.

Supercars Bathurst 1000 - Race results (161 laps):

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	25	Chaz Mostert Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore ZB	6:15'06.195
2	6	Cameron Waters James Moffat	Ford Mustang GT	6:15'09.934	3.739
3	99	Brodie Kostecki David Russell	Holden Commodore ZB	6:15'12.340	6.144
4	88	Jamie Whincup Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore ZB	6:15'13.540	7.344
5	2	Bryce Fullwood Warren Luff	Holden Commodore ZB	6:15'16.602	10.407
6	8	Nick Percat Dale Wood	Holden Commodore ZB	6:15'19.469	13.274
7	44	James Courtney Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	6:15'20.770	14.575
8	14	Todd Hazelwood Dean Fiore	Holden Commodore ZB	6:15'22.613	16.418
9	3	Tim Slade Tim Blanchard	Ford Mustang GT	6:15'23.155	16.960
10	17	Will Davison Alex Davison	Ford Mustang GT	6:15'23.715	17.520
11	26	David Reynolds Luke Youlden	Ford Mustang GT	6:15'29.070	22.875
12	96	Macauley Jones Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	6:15'31.107	24.912
13	34	Jake Kostecki Kurt Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	6:15'32.255	26.060
14	22	Garry Jacobson Dylan O’Keeffe	Holden Commodore ZB	6:15'33.562	27.367
15	5	Jack Le Brocq Zak Best	Ford Mustang GT	6:15'38.003	31.808
16	18	Mark Winterbottom Michael Caruso	Holden Commodore ZB	6:15'42.156	35.961
17	4	Jack Smith David Wall	Holden Commodore ZB	6:15'46.090	39.895
18	888	Shane van Gisbergen Garth Tander	Holden Commodore ZB	6:16'12.362	1'06.167
19	19	Fabian Coulthard Jonathon Webb	Holden Commodore ZB	6:16'50.273	5 Laps
20	9	Will Brown Jack Perkins	Holden Commodore ZB	6:16'59.539	11 Laps
	7	Andre Heimgartner Matt Campbell	Ford Mustang GT	6:15'07.947	2 Laps
	39	Broc Feeney Russell Ingall	Holden Commodore ZB	5:30'27.566	19 Laps
	11	Anton De Pasquale Tony D’Alberto	Ford Mustang GT	5:19'16.132	22 Laps
	35	Zane Goddard Jayden Ojeda	Holden Commodore ZB	4:10'21.342	49 Laps
	20	Scott Pye James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	1:08'31.438	155 Laps
View full results