MOTORSPORT: Supercars turn back time at Sandown 500

Appropriately enough considering he’ll race at the Supercars championship’s Sandown 500 retro round this weekend, Chaz Mostert would love nothing more than to hit the rewind button.

The Ford Mustang star has crashed and bashed his way through the last three Supercars championship outings, disastrously wiping himself and teammate Cam Waters out of the Bathurst 1000 and then wrecking his car in Gold Coast 600 qualifying and missing both races.

“I wish I could do a bit of back to the future time travel and do it all over again,” Mostert told carsales.com.au.

“We’d had a great year up until the last three rounds and I don’t want to overshadow that.

“There have been a lot of positives this year and a lot of great team results as well, so still a couple of rounds to go and I’d like to finish the year off strong.”

The 27-year-old Queenslander has raced Fords his entire Supercar career and -- apart from a stint at Dick Johnson Racing in 2013 -- has done so for the organisation now known as Tickford Racing.

But he is expected to announce within weeks his shift from Tickford to Walkinshaw Andretti United and a Holden Commodore ZB for 2020.

Contractual dictates mean no-one can say anything for the moment, but WAU boss Ryan Walkinshaw did drop a hint when the team announced current driver Scott Pye would join teammate James Courtney in exiting at the end of the season.

“As for our 2020 driver line up, the wait is nearly over. It won’t be long now until we can share the exciting news,” Walkinshaw was quoted as saying,

Like many other cars Mostert’s entry will race in retro colours at Sandown. In his case it will be those of Allan Moffat’s legendary 1969 Trans-Am Mustang.

That’s appropriate considering Allan’s son James is Mostert’s co-driver, while Tickford’s road car division recently launched a tribute to the Trans-Am.

Other retro designs include WAU’s 1999 Holden Racing Team livery, Tekno Autosports’ 1979 Bob Morris Torana tribute and Penrite Racing’s Jim Richards BMW John Player Special paintjob.

Championship leader Scott McLaughlin is one driver without a retro look this weekend. Instead he gets a brand new Mustang.

That’s because he wrecked his Bathurst winner on the Gold Coast in a spectacular Sunday qualifying crash, leaving him theoretically still in reach of Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden star Shane van Gisbergen for the driver’s championship.

McLaughlin shook down a brand-new car at Queensland Raceway and declared himself keen to confirm his second consecutive title at Sandown.

"I was pretty sore and sorry for myself and the team last week, but today I'm good as gold and it was fantastic to get back behind the wheel," he said.

"This is what I do for a living, I love it and I don't want to do anything else. I have a championship to win, we have a teams' championship to win and that is now the focus for the team … across the Sandown and Newcastle weekends. Bring it on."

Neither McLaughlin nor Mostert have won the Sandown 500 and this will be their last chance to do so as the historic Melbourne circuit’s enduro slot is claimed by The Bend in 2020 and it reverts to a 2x200km sprint event.

McLaughlin leads van Gisbergen by 463 points and needs to lead by 300 points exiting Sandown to claim the title. DJRTP leads Triple Eight narrowly in the team’s championship, which should go all the way to the Newcastle finale.

The PEC mini-series will be decided at Sandown, with van Gisbergen and Garth Tander leading teammates Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes. McLaughlin and Alex Premat are third and Pye and Warren Luff fourth.

Sandown hosts practice on Friday, qualifying on Saturday, including unique qualifying races for both drivers, and the 500km enduro on Sunday.

Bad weather is expected both Friday and Sunday with conditions forecast to improve on Sunday.

In other Supercars news:

Scott Pye confirmed his expected shift to Team 18 for 2020. He will join Mark Winterbottom at the operation owned by Queensland businessman Charlie Schwerkolt.

Simona De Silvestro announced she was leaving Supercars after a three-year stint at Kelly Racing. There were no obvious homes for the Swiss driver after the team cut back from four Nissan Altimas to two Ford Mustangs for 2020. She had previously confirmed a testing deal with Porsche’s Formula E team.