Supercars 2024: Mostert hoping to bounce back in Bathurst after ‘dodging a bullet’ at Sandown

Chaz Mostert is hoping to catch his rivals ‘napping’ at the Bathurst 1000 after managing to finish seventh despite a day at Sandown where plenty went wrong for the Ford star.

Ford star Chaz Mostert is hoping he can catch his Triple Eight rivals “napping” at the Bathurst 1000 after admitting he “dodged a bullet” to finish seventh at Sandown.

While Triple Eight rival Will Brown strengthened his position at the top of the Supercars championship standings, Mostert took a points hit in a race where “not much fell our way”.

Sitting second in the championship, the Walkinshaw Andretti United star had closed the gap to Brown to 81 points after five podiums in his last six races before the Sandown 500.

But Brown has now opened the margin up to 189 points after his Sandown victory.

A spin early in co-driver Lee Holdsworth’s stint pushed the pair back in the field and Mostert was able to fight back late in the race, but felt their seventh placing flattered their day.

Mostert said he was glad to see the back of the super soft tyre, which he has struggled with throughout the season, compared to the soft tyre which will be used at Bathurst.

“It was just not our day, there were too many mistakes and it just hurts,” Mostert said.

“So, we’ll just use this as motivation for the next one.

“I’m pretty keen to get off this super-soft tyre, glad that’s done for the year and then focus on Bathurst, Goldy and Adelaide, there is still a lot to play for.

“I think we dodged a bit of a bullet today with points, even though there are so many points to this race.

Chaz Mostert finished seventh on Sunday. Picture: Getty Images

“The car held together real good and we worked on speed and we worked on speed a lot into this race, and it looked like it had elements to that.

“So just didn’t get the cookies today, the team next to us did a much better job in all areas and they’ve always been the form team around here over the years and hopefully we can catch them napping in the next one.”

Mostert is a two-time winner of the Bathurst 1000, which he won in 2021 with Holdsworth, when 300 points will be on offer again for the victor.

Before his campaign at Mount Panorama, Mostert will head to the United States to race GT3 at the Indianapolis 8 Hour.

Originally published as Supercars 2024: Mostert hoping to bounce back in Bathurst after ‘dodging a bullet’ at Sandown