Photo: Tickford Racing

Chaz Mostert wins eventful first Surfers race as Scott McLaughlin reclaims lead

Tickford Racing driver Chaz Mostert claimed his first Supercars championship race of 2018 in the first and eventful Surfers Paradise race as Scott McLaughlin reclaimed the championship lead for DJR Team Penske.

McLaughlin’s co-driver Alexandre Prémat started the race from pole position but came under pressure from Jamie Whincup’s co-driver Paul Dumbrell straight away.

Triple Eight Race Engineering driver Dumbrell launched an attack on the inside of Prémat, resulting in contact between the two and Prémat dropping down to fifth position. The stewards decided to take no action on the incident.

Former championship leader Shane van Gisbergen started from tenth position after having his qualifying lap disqualified for exceeding track limits.

And the race was a nightmare for both Triple Eight Race Engineering drivers as van Gisbergen and Whincup were given penalties for unsafe release during their pit stops.

Van Gisbergen fought his way back up to tenth position while Whincup could only manage 14th position.

The field hurried to make their pit stops as the co-driver to Anton de Pasquale, Will Brown, hit the wall hard, forcing the safety car on track. The Erebus Motorsport driver had his Holden stranded right on the exit of a fast corner with passing cars taking avoiding action bar Steve Owen, co-driver to Tickford Racing driver Richie Stanaway, who collected the stranded car and was forced to retire as well.

A man on a charge during the race was Bathurst winner Craig Lowndes who started 21st but quickly made his way up through the field. Lowndes found himself involved in a tough fight for second place with Walkinshaw Andretti United driver James Courtney toward the end of the race.

Lowndes made a strong move on Courtney heading into the fast chicanes, claiming a very strong second place in the race, less than ten seconds behind race winner Mostert and his co-driver James Moffat.

Courtney finished third ahead of Erebus Motorsport driver David Reynolds while McLaughlin rounded off the top five, scoring enough points to reclaim the championship lead by 14 points over van Gisbergen.

Holden driver Nick Percat, Ford driver Mark Winterbottom and Ford driver Cameron Waters rounded off the top eight.

Racing resumes tomorrow with the second race starting at 06:25 CEST/14:25 local time.