Photo: supercars.com

Chaz Mostert and Cameron Waters delivers first 2024 wins for Ford

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Chaz Mostert and Cameron Waters delivered Ford’s first wins of 2024 in the two Supercars Championship races at Barbagallo Raceway.

Walkinshaw Andretti driver Mostert qualified on pole for the first race but was beaten into Turn 2 by team-mate Ryan Wood who shared the front row.

Mostert was however able to reclaim the lead on lap 15 and held the lead throughout the race to claim his first win of 2024 and Ford’s first since the Adelaide season finale last year.

Points leader Will Brown (Chevrolet) started fourth but managed to climb up to second place after the pit stops were completed.

There was a tough fight for the final podium position between Wood and Tickford Racing driver Waters.

Wood defended hard but could not withstand the pressure as Waters snatched third place on the final lap.

Triple Eight Race Engineering driver Broc Feeney was fifth, 17 seconds from the lead, with Ford driver James Courtney rounding off the top six.

The second race of the weekend had Waters starting from pole ahead of Mostert.

And the Tickford Racing driver claimed the lead from pole, only to make a mistake on the first lap which saw Mostert snatching the lead.

But disaster struck Mostert who was released in the path of Thomas Randle during his pit stop, resulting in a five-second penalty for the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver.

Mostert, who was still leading the race after the stop, tried to build enough of a gap ahead of Waters to secure the win.

But he could not build the gap enough, crossing the finishing line just over 2.5 seconds ahead of Waters who instead claimed the victory.

The penalty dropped Mostert to second, with Brown a distant third.

And the Triple Eight driver was also handed a five-second penalty for making contact with Randle while passing for third.

Brown however did manage to build enough of a gap to secure his position, with Will Davison in fourth, one second adrift. Randle meanwhile had to settle for fifth, with Anton De Pasquale rounding off the top six for Dick Johnson Racing.

Brown has extended his points lead to 136 points over team-mate Feeney.

The next Supercars Championship round will take place at Hidden Valley on June 15-16.