MOTORSPORT: Mostert sweeps Supercars in Sydney

Chaz Mostert has moved into second place in the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship chase with a dominant weekend sweep at the Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight from Sydney Motorsport Park.

The two races turned into tactical battles, with differing strategies converging late in both races.

However, by utilising two stops in each, Mostert was able to push hard to seal the pair of victories.

“It’s just a credit to the whole Walkinshaw Andretti United crew, we obviously rolled out a pretty good car and kept chipping away at it,” said Mostert.

“Quali, we’re there or thereabouts this weekend, but the race car was something pretty special around here.

“Today, the car was even better again, which is a real credit to the team.

“I’m not sure what happened in those last 10 laps but when you’re leading and you’ve got a bit of a gap, you think something is going to go wrong.

“It took me all the way back to go kart days when you’re seven or eight and winning a state title, and you hear the engine note change and all this kind of stuff.

“The last 10 laps were hell for me.”

Following a front-row Tickford lockout for the Saturday encounter, Thomas Randle got the best of the start over teammate Cameron Waters and led the opening stanza until the first sequence of pit stops.

Meanwhile, there was drama at the second corner when Mark Winterbottom lost control under breaking and speared into Macauley Jones.

Mostert was an early mover, displacing Waters, before gaining the upper hand in the race after a quick stop by the Walkinshaw Andretti United crew, while Waters dropped back with slow fuel fills on his stops.

In the cool night air, the cars of Matthew Payne and Cameron Hill ran opposing single-stop strategies, which placed both near the front of the pack late.

Ultimately, Mostert forged through to the lead with four of 51 laps remaining, claiming the win from Payne and Randle.

Next were the DJR Fords of Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale, championship leader Will Brown, Waters, Nick Percat, Broc Feeney and defending series champion Brodie Kostecki.

Davison won the start of Sunday evening’s race from DJR’s first Gen3 pole position, but Mostert forged his way through to the lead on the opening circuit.

Feeney was forced off the track at turn eight on the opening lap, but otherwise the race was largely clean.

The pass of the round came on lap seven of 51 when Payne blasted by both Percat and Ryan Wood in one decisive move at turn one.

After Saturday’s experiment with a single-stop strategy, more drivers rolled the dice with a lone service, namely Waters, Brown, De Pasquale, Winterbottom and Kostecki.

In the run home, Mostert easily rounded up Waters to claim an event sweep, with Brown holding on for third.

Payne was strong once again in fourth from De Pasquale, Davison, Kostecki, Percat, James Golding and the hard-charging Randle.

The next stop on the Supercars schedule is the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint from August 16-18 at Symmons Plains Raceway.

Race 1 – 51 laps

Race 2 – 51 laps

Championship points:

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