Photo: Supercars

Chaz Mostert holds lead at second hour after Alexandre Premat leads most laps

A tight battle between the leading pack in the Bathurst 1000 has resulted in Chaz Mostert taking the lead for Tickford Racing on lap 50 after a hard-charging third stint.

The #55 driver opened the race and took over from co-driver James Moffat in the third stint, hunting down Alex Premat in the DJR Team Penske #17 who had led a majority of the laps so far.

The battle amongst the top four positions is currently spread across under ten seconds with Premat as the only co-driver, sitting behind Mostert, Jamie Whincup in the #888 and Cam Waters, driving the #6 Tickford car.

Starting at the latest ever time in Bathurst 1000 history, the race was set to get underway at 11:30am until the Kostecki Brothers Racing entry pulled up out of Forrest Elbow with Brodie Kostecki behind the wheel.

A cool suit failure for the Super2 regular pumped dry ice into his helmet, feeding him carbon dioxide instead of fresh air. The car was towed back to the pits and Jake was put behind the wheel as the race start was delayed by a further 15 minutes.

With everything finally settled, the race started and polesitter Scott McLaughlin got a clean run off the line in the DJR Team Penske Mustang, defending into Turn 1 from fellow Ford drivers Michael Caruso and Chaz Mostert in their Tickford Racing entries.

Despite being a co-driver and starting third, Caruso got a better launch than Mostert and moved to second, both being followed by Will Davison’s Tickford prepared entry to make it a Ford sweep of the top four spots.

Before the field reached the top of the hill, the race ended early for the Brad Jones Racing entry of Tim Slade, ending up in the concrete wall after trying to hold his line around the outside of Scott Pye’s Walkinshaw Andretti United car.

Pye hit the kerb on the inside of the rise out of The Cutting, pushing the #2 car to the left and into the rear of Slade who lost control and hit the wall. The lap one crash took he and Ash Walsh out of the race, also triggering the first safety car of the day.

Racing got back underway at the start of lap four, McLaughlin leading them to the line and pulling out a healthy gap to Caruso on the first flying lap. Further back, Simona De Silvestro got robbed of two spots on Conrod Straight, her #78 Kelly Racing Nissan first losing a spot to the WAU #22 car of Jack Perkins and the #9 Erebus Holden driven by David Reynolds who gave his fellow Holden driver a bump to complete the move.

Mostert worked his way past Caruso for second as McLaughlin extended his commanding lead, setting a new race lap record on lap five and then again on lap seven, getting down to a 2:05.4520 and gaining a lead of two and a half seconds.

An early pit stop for Nick Percat thanks to a slowly deflating tyre pulled the Brad Jones Racing driver out of the battle towards the front on lap nine, jumping out of the #8 with Tim Blanchard getting in to the Commodore for his first stint.

Defending Bathurst champion Craig Lowndes in the #888 car started to apply pressure to Will Davison for fourth position, getting underneath the rear of the Tickford car as the pair lost touch to Caruso in front and Lowndes’ Triple Eight team-mate Garth Tander behind.

McLaughlin took his first stop from the lead in car #17 on lap 17, handing it over to Frenchman Alex Premat for the second stint of the race. Lowndes pitted the #888 on the next tour, staying in the car and just getting away with nearly stalling the car on pit exit.

Mostert relegated control of the #55 on lap 19, James Moffat jumping into the Tickford car as Anton de Pasquale followed, jumping out of the Erebus Motorsport #99 with TCR Australia champion Will Brown taking the wheel.

Moffat came out on track just behind Premat, setting up a battle for the effective race lead as the gap came back to around two and a half seconds. Cam Waters took the reins of Tickford’s #6 from Caruso on lap 20, being passed by the hard-charging Lowndes on the run up Mountain Straight.

Will Davison handed the lead to Tander when he pitted on lap 22, brother Alex jumping into the #23 and coming onto the track behind Steven Richards in the Team 18 car but in front of Brown in the #99.

Tander came in for his first stop on the next lap, staying in the car just as Lowndes had done in the #888 to make it a double stint for both of the Triple Eight drivers to start the day.

Car #17 regained the race lead with Premat behind the wheel on lap 25 as all cars cycled through for their first stops of the race. Moffat remained just over two seconds behind the DJR Team Penske car while lowndes circulated in third, some ten seconds down on the leader.

An attempted pass from Brown on Alex Davison resulted in a spin for the #99, locking the rear brakes at The Chase and ending up on the grass, dropping to 16th from ninth on the road.

Luke Youlden added to the woes for Erebus, spinning at Hell Corner and running down the escape road after locking up the #9 car’s brakes. He was able to come back onto the circuit just behind Brown in 16th.

Lowndes started to reel in Moffat and Premat, dropping the gap from ten seconds to just under five after gaining at the rate of over half a second per lap, dragging Waters behind with him as the top four circulated within seven seconds of each other.

Premat lost a second in the first sector of the 38th lap as he was blocked on the approach to The Cutting by Youlden, the Erebus car only just returning to the track after a second stop and getting in the mix of the leaders.

Moffat took the lead on lap 39 as Premat, Lowndes and Waters all came in for their second stops of the race. Premat stayed in the #17 and Waters in the #6 while Jamie Whincup climbed aboard the #888 for his first stint of the day, dropping behind Waters after a slower stop.

Bringing the #55 in for its second pit stop of the day, Moffat hit the pit lane on lap 41, Tickford choosing to reinstall Mostert back into the Mustang to fight amongst the other main drivers. He came out on track behind Premat, the only co-driver in the front pack, and Waters to take on his second stint of the race.

Waters started to apply the pressure to Premat after the stops, getting to within a second of the effective race leader as Mostert followed the pair, all three starting to get space over Whincup.

Shane van Gisbergen took over control of the #97 from Tander on lap 44 but soon had dramas with the driver’s door coming open on his out lap, trying to shut it on his next tour and keeping it closed, being able to keep circulating in fifth.

Meanwhile, back in the fight for the lead, Thomas Randle held the actual race lead in the #5 Tickford entry, holding up Premat for a lap which backed him up towards the other Tickford Mustangs of Waters and Mostert. The top four were covered by less than two seconds as Premat kept cool, fighting off the regular drivers behind him.

Mostert and Whincup were able to get past Waters after the #6 driver attempted a pass around the outside of Premat at The Chase, dropping time and two spots as the pair got past. The fight for second resulted in Premat gaining a bit of space to those behind with Mostert now on the charge.

Mostert got on to the back of the leader on lap 50, forcing him into a mistake and a lock-up at The Chase to take the lead as Whincup moved into second place. Premat then had to resume keeping Waters at bay, allowing the top two to stretch out a margin in front as the Tickford driver finally got past the Frenchman on lap 52.