Chaz Mostert wins eventful first Darwin race

Chaz Mostert won his second Supercars Championship race of 2021 in an eventful first race of the weekend at Darwin.

Anton De Pasquale started from pole position but was taken out in a first corner accident that eliminated multiple cars.

Shane van Gisbergen challenged De Pasquale for the lead into the first corner and the Dick Johnson Racing driver was then hit from behind by Scott Pye, turning him into a spin.

Mark Winterbottom was then unable to avoid De Pasquale, with Todd Hazelwood also collected in the chaos, as well as Jack Smith and both Team Sydney drivers Fabian Coulthard and Garry Jacobson.

The safety car was brought out for six laps to clear the cars from the Turn 1 incident.

Pye was given a drive-through penalty for the incident and also had to pit for repairs.

Van Gisbergen headed the field at the restart and pulled out a lead. Walkinshaw Andretti United driver Mostert meanwhile made his way past Nick Percat for second on lap 11 and started to gain on van Gisbergen.

But disaster struck for the Triple Eight Race Engineering driver as he pitted on lap 22 as a wheel nut on his right rear wheel failed and saw him losing a lot of time. The Holden driver rejoined the field at the back.

Mostert was then left alone in the lead while Cameron Waters was passed for second by Percat on lap 31.

Mostert won the race by 12 seconds ahead of Waters in second and 15 seconds ahead of Percat.

James Courtney finished fourth for Tickford Racing ahead of Will Brown, who had received a pit-lane penalty for breaching the safety car procedure, in fifth position.

Triple Eight Race Engineering driver Van Gisbergen crossed the line in 13th position, right behind his team-mate Wincup.

Van Gisbergen still heads the standings on 1156 points, 188 ahead of tean-mate Jamie Whincup and 190 ahead of Mostert.

The second qualifying session of the weekend starts at 09:15 local time tomorrow.