Mostert wins Bathurst after van Gisbergen left with ‘heartbreak’
Chaz Mostert is the king of the mountain for 2021 leaving rival Shane van Gisbergen with the most miserable championship slap.
Chaz Mostert has driven a supreme race to win a famous Bathurst 1000.
The Holden star repeatedly pulled away from the field in a frenetic final dash to the finish line and held his nerve in the final laps to win his second Peter Brock Trophy as the king of the mountain for 2021.
Mt Panorama provided all the expected drama and it reached fever pitch with seven laps remaining when second-placed driver Shane van Gisbergen’s Red Bull Holden fell apart.
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Van Gisbergen had been the only driver with a chance to put pressure on Mostert in the final laps — but his heartbreak became Mostert’s ecstasy.
It completes the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver’s comeback from his traumatic Bathurst 2014 crash where he shattered bones in his leg.
“A pretty tough race. When we did that tyre, I thought it would be a tough slog,” Mostert said.
“Credit to the guys, this car has been speedy all weekend.
“We started pole and we won the race. Every time you start on pole, you never think you will win it. Credit to this car. Credit to the team. I left it all out there.”
He celebrated with a few burnouts on his way into the pit lane for the final time.
Mostert and co-driver Lee Holdsworth — who is a Bathurst champion for the first time in his career — won ahead of Cam Waters, Brodie Kostecki and Jamie Whincup.
Waters finished as the runner-up for the second consecutive year, while Whincup walks away from Supercars finishing agonisingly short of a podium finishing his final race.
Here’s how the full field finished at the end of 161 laps and almost seven hours of racing.
Mostert and his rollercoaster comeback from the brink of disaster was the biggest story of the day after he suffered an early tyre explosion.
His day appeared to be blown to pieces after a tyre deflation that saw him plummet down the leaderboard. Instead he has created another iconic story that will go into Australian motorsport folklore.
He would have been almost untouchable if not for the tyre problem after he also secured pole position in Saturday’s Top 10 Shootout, breaking the lap record.
He was also at the centre of the drama at the death of the great race when he pitted early to catch rivals van Gisbergen, Waters and Whincup on the hop.
In a race that swung in every direction in the final laps, van Gisbergen’s tyre puncture was the decisive moment.
It was a dream result for Mostert, who opened up a five second lead on Waters as van Gisbergen was forced to pit.
“Oh my god, he’s in trouble,” Supercars legend Mark Skaife said as van Gisbergen began to drop behind the race leaders.
“He’s lost all his place, they’re standing by to put a tyre on. He’s gone.
“How cruel is this race.”
Van Gisbergen dropped down to 12th in a bitter sweet moment as he celebrated his 2021 Supercars championship victory in the misery of his Bathurst despair.
He was handed the championship trophy for the first time after the race, but he was in no mood to celebrate.
“It’s bitter sweet, you know,” he told Fox Sports.
“Really tried to win that race. Congrats to Chaz and Lee and their team. They were super fast. Gave it everything, just couldn’t quite hold it together.”
Mostert had done everything needed to hold the field at bay.
By the time his rivals rejoined the race from their final pit stops with 22 laps remaining, Mostert had opened up a five second buffer.
That was then reduced to dust after a safety car was triggered when Anton De Pasquale was forced to park his car at the top of the mountain after suffering a technical failure.
With the safety car still controlling the field with 20 laps to go, the leaderboard was: Chaz Mostert, Shane van Gisbergen, Cam Waters, Brodie Kostecki, Jamie Whincup, Bryce Fullwood, Nick Percat, James Courtney and Broc Feeney.
“It’s on,” Supercars commentator Neil Crompton said.
“My goodness me.”
Mostert opened up a one-second lead on van Gisbergen in the following two laps, but yet another safety car was forced out when Feeney went into the wall with just 18 laps remaining.
When the safety car was called in with 16 laps remaining, van Gisbergen had another golden opportunity to jump Mostert at the re-start.
SVG with a love tap ðŸ¿#Bathurst1000pic.twitter.com/l5XvBNRkgl
— 7Sport (@7Sport) December 5, 2021
But Mostert held his nerve to bolt after van Gisbergen had bumped into his rear end.
The bum tap was the brief momentum change Mostert needed too make his dash as they made their final run to the finish line.
Earlier, Mostert assumed the race lead with 30 laps left to go after the sight of an echidna waddling across the track triggered three yellow flag safety cars in quick succession.
Echidna drama causes pandemonium
The race was yellow flagged and a safety car was deployed after it first emerged the little critter was crossing to the far side of the track.
Several drivers came terrifyingly close to making contact.
However, fans were able to breathe a sigh of relief when the echidna made it to the wall and was picked up by a safety marshall.
Local law enforcement have noticed @LeeHoldsworth's pace and deployed a spike strip #Bathurst1000#RepcoSC#TheJokesWriteThemselvespic.twitter.com/fZ7IPEREeP
— Supercars (@supercars) December 5, 2021
“In my experience we’ve seen kangaroos, we’ve seen horses, we’ve seen trees and water and bits of cars. We have never seen an echidna,” Supercars legend Mark Skaife said.
“This place is just madness”.
The monotreme triggered pit stop madness as cars came into the pits to take advantage of the safety car.
When the race resumed on Lap 109, race leader Mostert had slotted into second spot behind Shane van Gisbergen. Jamie Whincup was third.
Mostert goes berserk after day almost blown up
Mostert had been racing in clean air as the race leader when he suffered a tyre failure on Lap 50.
His team said after he had been forced into the pits that the tyre issue was the result of debris forcing a puncture to his left rear tyre.
Mostert rejoined the race in 12th with Cam Waters taking the race lead.
The live TV broadcast showed how ripped up the tyre was.
“Oh, my God! This is such a cruel race, isn’t it,” Supercars legend Mark Skaife said on Fox Sports.
Neil Crompton responded with: “He’s in a real pile of trouble”.
That was only the beginning of Mostert’s drama.
In an insane stint at the wheel, Mostert went berserk to swallow up almost half the field in the space of 15 laps.
Mostert set the fastest lap of the race to re-take the lead as rivals Cam Waters and Anton De Pasquale came into the pits for a third time.
Mostert’s lead was out to more than 28 seconds after 70 laps.
Skaife described Mostert’s Holden as a “rocket”.
“He’s actually back to having the same lead as he had before he had the tyre issue. Extraordinary,” he said.
“Just unbelievable pace.”
However, the tyre drama left the Holden team on a different pit stop strategy to its rivals and mystery surrounds how the car’s tyres and fuel load will look at the end of the race.
Here’s what the leaderboard looked like with 70 laps left.
Earlier, there was some jostling on the opening lap with cars making contact in the opening corners as they raced wheel to wheel.
James Moffat suffered a, early nightmare when he dropped six spots before the lead drivers had even climbed to the top of the mountain for the first time.
It came after there was a scary crash in the support categories with two drivers spinning off the track at 270km/h.
Mostert’s co-driver Lee Holdsworth regained the lead following the opening pit stops.
Big drama as safety car called out
There have been mass pit stops following the first safety car of the race.
Just a few laps after James Moffat and Bryce Fullwood went into the gravel after coming into the chase too hot, Thomas Randle missed the first turn coming from pit straight and thumped into the wall.
Randle was parked in the heavy sand, forcing the first safety car of the race.
As a result of the stops, Lee Holdsworth re-gained the race lead ahead of Garth Tander and Tony D’Alberto.
Things are not going to plan for James Moffat 😬
— Fox Motorsport (@Fox_Motorsport) December 5, 2021
📠Blog: https://t.co/ublzmpRkkC📺 Watch #Bathurst1000 on Foxtel CH 503 or stream on Kayo Sports: https://t.co/fA6Y7cKc3bpic.twitter.com/XhZaBsle60
Safety Car boards and flags.
— Supercars (@supercars) December 5, 2021
Randle has gone off at Turn 1, and pit lane is about to get crazy! #Bathurst1000#RepcoSCpic.twitter.com/tMd3yYcDYs
The frenzy of pit stops turned the race “crazy”, according to the Supercars’ official Twitter handle.
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