MOTORSPORT: Mostert survives tyre-marred Phillip Island

A return to the top of the podium for Chaz Mostert for the first time since 2015 put a feel-good cap on a Supercars championship outing at Phillip Island that was at times shambolic and farcical and could have been tragic.

A rash of tyre failures at up to 290km/h during Saturday’s outing turned the race into a bizarre game of chance, overlaid by a series of 15 second penalties as various drivers strayed into the slow lane entering pitlane.

Despite a puncture DJR Team Penske’s Fabian Coulthard took the win and the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship lead in the Shell V-Power Ford Falcon FG X in a race shortened from its planned 250km length, in part because of a safety car period called to remove rubber and other debris from the track.

Triple Eight’s Jamie Whincup followed him home in the Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF, managing to avoid both tyre failures and pitlane penalties.

Garth Tander drove up from 20th on the grid to claim the final podium position in the Garry Rogers Motorsport Wilson Security Holden.

On Sunday, with the mandated minimum pressures for the new-for-2017 ‘soft’ tyre bumped from 17 to 19 psi and more conservative camber settings recommended, there were only five failures. Mostert, who had two right-rear punctures on Saturday in his Prodrive Supercheap Falcon, ran a long final stint and took the lead when the race’s dominant force, DJRTP’s Scott McLaughlin, pitted for fuel.

Mostert’s team-mate Mark Winterbottom showed a welcome return to form with second, while David Reynolds continued Erebus Motorsport’s recent speed to claim third in the Penrite Holden.

It was Mostert’s first points-paying Supercars win since August 2015 and more evidence he has overcome the injuries sustained in that horrific accident at Bathurst that year.

“The biggest thing for me is every time someone comes to me with a program for a signature it says 2015 last win, so I am looking forward to next round when the program doesn’t say that. I am pretty chuffed,” the 25-year old said.

It was also an important win for Prodrive, which has been overshadowed by DJRTP this year. And the Blue Oval domination was welcomed by Ford fans, who hadn’t seen a Falcon finish first at the MotoGP track since 2012.

“The win was really from the engineers from the way they turned the car upside down to look after the tyres was pretty big,” Mostert added.

Teams were given adequate warning the new-construction tyres were going to be an issue on Phillip Island’s long, loaded high-speed corners when there were three right-side failures on Friday, including one for Craig Lowndes that dumped him into the wall at the Hay Shed and forced an overnight rebuild of the TeamVortex Holden.

Yet despite that were no less than 18 failures during the Saturday race, with cars slewing off at high-speed and then rushing back to the pits leaving shredded bodywork and straps of rubber lying around the circuit. The failures were instant, so the mandatory tyre sensors weren’t much help.

Somehow, no-one was hurt and no car destroyed. Prodrive team principal Tim Edwards urged the race to be red flagged, but his call went unheeded.

Then came the Pit Lane Penalties. Phillip Island’s pitlane is narrow and congested, especially given the herd mentality Supercars adopt on refuelling strategy. So drivers were instructed to stay to the right of a broken line that demarcates the two lanes until close to their own pit bay. Pole qualifier McLaughlin was the first victim, then came many more as television replays showed car after car cutting the corner at the entry to pitlane.

“The blend line normally has a cone where you blend in and when you're following a car you can't see where you're going so it's a pretty steep penalty,” said Winterbottom, one of many to be caught out. “I knew the rule but you just can't see so you follow the car in front.”

The PLPs added another layer of confusion to an already chaotic situation. Not all perpetrators were caught. For instance, there is vision of Tander crossing the line and he was never penalised.

Following on from the 12-car smash in Tassie two weeks ago, this was the second consecutive championship Saturday to be mired in controversy and criticism.

"In all honesty, it's crap,” said Red Bull’s Shane van Gisbergen. “The penalties being handed out were ridiculous. Crossing the line at pit entry is something that happens at every track, and the process is different on every track, yet now they decide to police it in a way they have never done here before.

“It's pretty average if you ask me. They'll need to rewatch the race and penalise everyone because otherwise, they'll only be selecting a handful.”

The defending champion still managed to finish fourth on Saturday despite his PLP. But on Sunday he was only 16th after a tyre failure. In fact, all three Triple Eight Holdens suffered flats after avoiding the issue on Saturday.

But the damage to his and Whincup’s championship campaigns was limited because the DJRTP Falcons were down the order too. After brilliantly claiming his second consecutive pole with a record shattering time nearly 0.3 sec faster than his team-mate, McLaughlin’s conservative tyre strategy proved the wrong choice and he finished 14th. Coulthard, after a PLP for driving through the red light at pitlane exit, was 17th and Whincup 18th.

Coulthard leads van Gisbergen in the championship by seven points, with Mostert up to third, Whincup fourth and McLaughlin fifth, 97 points off the pace.

Despite sliding off at turn one on the opening lap on Saturday and crashing into a marshal’s post, Todd Kelly achieved his best finish of the season so far in sixth in the carsales.com.au Nissan Altima. On Sunday he was headed for another top 10 finish until some aggressive panel rubbing with team-mate Michael Caruso on the last lap ended with him dropping to 11th.

Virgin Australia Supercars Championship pointscore

1 Fabian Coulthard Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Falcon FG X 568

2 Shane van Gisbergen Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF 561

3 Chaz Mostert Supercheap Auto Racing Ford Falcon FG X 531

4 Jamie Whincup Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF 522

5 Scott McLaughlin Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Falcon FG X 471

6 Garth Tander Wilson Security Racing GRM Holden Commodore VF 444

7 Cameron Waters Monster Energy Racing Ford Falcon FG X 427

8 Mark Winterbottom The Bottle-O Racing Team Ford Falcon FG X 417

9 Craig Lowndes Team Vortex Holden Commodore VF 378

10 James Moffat Wilson Security Racing GRM Holden Commodore VF 366