Chaz Mostert wins eventful race in changeable conditions

Chaz Mostert claimed victory in an eventful third V8 Supercars race of the weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park. The Prodrive Racing Australia driver started third but made the most of an early safety car session and a downpour of rain later in the race.

Scott McLaughlin started from pole position for Volvo Polestar Racing but dropped back in the first safety car session on lap three, which was caused by a collision between David Wall and Todd Kelly. The Kiwi stopped too far out from his box, costing his pit crew valuable time to reposition the refueling equipment.

Mostert took charge of the lead after the first safety car session and kept it throughout the 50-lap race with Fabian Coulthard fighting a strong race to finish second from tenth on the grid.

Rain hit the track just before mid-point of the race which saw several cars going off in the slippery conditions and the safety car being deployed for a second time.

The new conditions saw several drivers climbing the order, Jason Bright and Shane van Gisbergen being two of them. Van Gisbergen made strong ground in the closing part of the race, gaining fast on the Brad Jones Racing driver in third position.

The Tekno Autosports driver tried to get past with just a few laps remaining, a move resulting in Bright spinning off track. Bright took a shortcut to rejoin the track ahead of van Gisbergen, who after the race took responsibility of the incident. The stewards have so far taken no action on the incident.

McLaughlin crossed the line in fifth position ahead of Rod Nash Racing’s David Reynolds in sixth position. Michael Caruso was best of the Nissan Motorsport drivers in seventh position with Tim Slade as the final driver into the top eight for Walkinshaw Racing.

Championship leader Mark Winterbottom had a tough day and only managed 16th position in the race, losing a massive 93 points to team mate Mostert in the title battle. Title contender Craig Lowndes had a tough race in the middle of the field to finish tenth with Triple Eight Race Engineering team mate and reigning champion Jamie Whincup finishing 14th.

Winterbottom remains in charge of the championship on 1915 points, with Mostert second on 1741 and Lowndes third on 1660.

The V8 Supercars championship continues on September 13th with the Sandown 500 kicking off the first of three endurance races.