Chaz Mostert and Fabian Coulthard won the AirTouch 500 at The Bend. Image: InSyde Media
Wild weather wreaked havoc on the 147-lap race, which went time-certain and ended after 141 laps.
The defining stint of the race came after the Lap 59 restart. Having taken the reins from Coulthard, Mostert stormed from 10th to second by Lap 69.
A bold strategy by Erebus Motorsport ultimately didn’t pay dividends for Jobe Stewart and Jarrod Hughes, who were forced to pit out of the lead on Lap 76.
“First of all, the 500 has been kicking me for years and years. We’ve come close, but never achieved one, so, just so pumped for all the guys and girls at Walkinshaw TWG Racing,” said Mostert.
“We really strive for high performance enduro season. The first time I joined this team, the first time I saw the preparation for Bathurst and these types of endurance rates, second to none. So, such a good reward. O
“Obviously, [Fabian’s a] wet weather specialist here. What a guru. As soon as it was looking like to pit to put me in, I said ‘just keep him out there. Just keep him going. He’ll be fine. Just put me in for 50 [laps] at the end’.
“But, just pumped for all the guys and girls. Been a hard project this year. Good to clock up another win for the Toyota.”
Coulthard was a standout in his stint, leading the race briefly in treacherous conditions from Lap 37 until he pitted out of the lead for the first time on Lap 45.
“There were periods there where it was actually fine, but when it was very wet, the surface was shiny, I don’t even think we were full throttle down the straight,” said Coulthard.
“It was probably the wildest conditions I’ve ever driven in. So, to bring it back in one piece to give it to this great man, Chazzy, and then to come away with a win, it’s very rewarding.
“Obviously, a lot of time and effort goes in behind the scenes with everyone at the workshop and things like that, and I had a little bit to play with Toyota in the infancy late last year, trying to get this program together, and get Toyota on board, so it feels very satisfying.
“Feels amazing [to win], and it’s nice to hear that it’s Chazzy’s first 500 win as well, so we can enjoy it together tonight, so it’s awesome, and obviously, to win with another brand, with Toyota, Walkinshaw TWG Racing, it takes a crew to win races, and they’ve done a fantastic job.”
A pre-race deluge soaked the circuit before the start. Almost every co-driver took the reins of their respective cars with the exception of PremiAir Racing’s Declan Fraser.
Pole position sitter Todd Hazelwood was slow away and was immediately swamped. Mark Winterbottom was a fast starter from third and challenged Will Davison into the first turn.
Winterbottom understeered into the path of Davison and sent the Grove Mustang into a spin, dropping him to last. The Tickford Mustang was given a 15-second penalty as a result. Amid all that mayhem, sixth place starter Tim Slade shot to the lead in his Grove Mustang.
Scott Pye tipped James Courtney into a spin at Turn 6, which damaged the Team 18 Camaro and forced it into the garage with steering arm damage.
Pye’s Triple Eight Camaro suffered a puncture in the melee with Courtney. There was more contact for Pye, who made wheel-to-wheel contact with Zak Best’s Blanchard Racing Team Mustang and sent it spinning. Pye pitted and shortly after returning to the race went a lap down.
At the end of Lap 1, Slade led surprise packett Reuben Goodall in the Tickford Mustang. Winterbottom was third ahead of Hazelwood. Nick Percat, Lee Holdsworth, Fabian Coulthard, Aaron Seton, Jarrod Hughes and David Russell completed the top 10.
On Lap 2, Holdsworth tagged the back of sixth-placed Percat and tipped the Triple Eight Mustang into a spin. For the clash, Holdsworth was given a 15-second penalty. The Team 18 co-driver’s woes continued, going off at Turn 1 out of seventh to drop to 14th.
Team 18 wildcard Craig Lowndes was spun out of 18th on Lap 4 by Bryce Fullwood in his Brad Jones Racing Supra, who was given a 15-second penalty.
By Lap 10, Slade had checked out to a 10-second lead over Goodall. He was another two seconds clear of standout performer Jarrod Hughes for Erebus Motorsport, who got to second by Lap 15.
Then the rain intensified. Slade’s near-on 20-second lead evaporated when he spun on his own out of Turn 1 on Lap 25.
Hughes and Goodall went off too, but worst off was Tony D’Alberto who aquaplaned in the Turn 1 braking zone and completed several spins before nosing into the wall.
The Safety Car was duly called to neutralise the race. At that moment, Slade led Stanaway, Coulthard, Davison, Winterbottom, Hughes, Evans, Fraser and Fullwood.
The race resumed on Lap 33. Percat was clean bowled by Best at Turn 3, which damaged the right rear toe link and dropped the Triple Eight Mustang down five laps. Best was also brought to the lane for repairs. He was given a drive-through for the clash.
On Lap 34, Coulthard rounded up his Kiwi compatriot Stanaway at Turn 1. Coulthard was then gifted the lead on Lap 37 when Slade went off at Turn 1 for the second time.
On Lap 45, the Safety Car was called for extreme weather conditions. Coulthard pitted out of the lead followed by Evans, Winterbottom, Hazelwood, Morris, Boys, and Russell.
Slade inherited the lead ahead of Hughes, Stanaway, Harri Jones, Davison, Fullwood, Lochie Dalton, Goodall, Aaron Seton and Pye.
The race restarted on Lap 50. There were wild scenes when Slade’s Grove Mustang cracked sideways as it aquaplaned. He lost a handful of positions to fourth while Hughes took the lead.
Pye earned himself another 15-second penalty when he spun Goodall out of eighth at Turn 9.
On Lap 53, the Safety Car was called once again for extreme weather. At that moment, Hughes led Jones, Stanaway, Slade, Davison, Fullwood, Dalton, Pye, Seton and Brad Vaughan.
During that sequence, Hughes elected to stay out as did his Erebus teammate Dalton, who vaulted from seventh to second. Evans elected to stay out and shot from 13th to third.
Jones led the field to the pits at the end of Lap 54, triggering co-driver changes. Once the field cycled through it was Hughes who led Dalton, Evans, Lowndes, and Morris. Stanaway was sixth ahead of Kai Allen, Andre Heimgartner, Jack Le Brocq and Chaz Mostert.
Matt Payne was among the losers in that sequence as he was forced to double-stack before taking the reins from Davison.
Hughes led the restart and immediately skipped away from his teammate Dalton. Lowndes fumbled the Lap 59 restart as he went off at Turn 1 and slid from fourth to 10th.
A mistake by Dalton at Turn 6 on Lap 65 opened the door for hard charger Allen to snag second place. At that moment, Allen trailed Hughes by 6.5 seconds.
On the same lap, Payne got into the side Waters and spun him exiting Turn 6 – dropping the Tickford Mustang from 11th to 17th. For the clash Payne was given a 15-second penalty.
Having fallen back to 10th after the pit stops, Mostert’s charge reached second by Lap 68 with a pass on Allen at Turn 9.
The rain finally abated and the sun began to break through and Erebus Motorsport’s strategy came into focus.
As their fuel tanks neared empty, the team were forced to pit. Dalton pitted out of fourth to hand the car over to Cooper Murray on Lap 75. Hughes followed suit a lap later. Both cars went onto slick tyres despite the slippery conditions.
They lost time hand over fist and ultimately Stewart and Hughes finished 16th. Murray and Dalton, meanwhile, were 19th.
Once Hughes pitted, Mostert led Allen by eight seconds. He led a gaggle of cars that included Evans, Stanaway, Brown, and Ojeda.
It wasn’t until Lap 84 that anyone else elected to switch to slicks. Percat was the first to pit, followed a lap later by Evans who switched seats with Ryan Wood.
Brown pitted out of fourth on Lap 87 and finally served his 30-second penalty.
Allen faded on his worn wet tyres and fell to fourth on Lap 88 when Ojeda got by at Turn 3.
After Allen pitted on Lap 89, Stanaway pitted out of second on Lap 91 to hand the Blanchard Racing Team Mustang over to Golding with a 12-second deficit to Mostert.
Mostert pitted on Lap 92 out of the lead. On corrected order, Mostert led Wood by just a few car lengths. Allen was eight seconds adrift in third while Golding was another second and a half back in fourth.
Wood piled pressure on Mostert for the lead but ultimately settled in under the rear wing of his teammate.
At the 100-lap mark, Mostert led Wood by three seconds. Allen was nine seconds off the lead.
Wood was the first of the front-runners to pit for the final time on Lap 113 out of second with an eight-second deficit to Mostert.
There was drama for Golding on Lap 116 when he went off at Turn 1 and gifted Payne a place. Golding’s woes continued on Lap 117. An out-of-sequence Bayley Hall got in the way of Golding, who was left vulnerable to an overtake from Brown.
Payne pitted on Lap 122 and slotted in behind Brown but quickly dispatched the Triple Eight Mustang. Allen and Golding pitted on Lap 126 for the final time.
Mostert completed his final pit stop on Lap 130 with a one-minute lead over Allen. Once the final round of pit stops were completed, Mostert led Allen by 16 seconds. Wood was third and 22 seconds off the lead.
Ojeda was the quiet achiever in fourth having elected to pit early. He found himself embroiled in a battle with Payne and Brown, who had 10-lap-newer tyres than the PremiAir Camaro.
Their battle came to a head on Lap 132 when Payne bodyslammed Ojeda out of Turn 3. Payne and Brown both went by, dropping Ojeda down to sixth. For the incident, Payne was given a five-second penalty.
Ultimately, Mostert controlled the final stanza. All told, he was 18 seconds clear of Allen while Wood was another 14 seconds in arrears.
Brown and Pye bounced back from their early trauma to claim fourth while Ojeda and Russell were fifth despite two spins and several off-track moments for the PremiAir Camaro.
Payne and Davison were classified sixth after their five-second penalty was applied.
Golding and Stanaway were seventh but face a post-race disqualification for not meeting the minimum drive time.
The top 10 was completed by Anton De Pasquale/Lee Holdsworth, Andre Heimgartner/Bryce Fullwood and Rylan Gray/Tony D’Alberto.
Results: Repco Supercars Championship AirTouch 500 at The Bend
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Car
Lap
Diff
1
1
Chaz Mostert/Fabian Coulthard
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
141 laps
2
26
Kai Allen/Tim Slade
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
18.4867
18.4867
3
2
Ryan Wood/Jaxon Evans
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
33.283
14.7963
4
888
William Brown/Scott Pye
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
44.3877
11.1047
5
31
Jayden Ojeda/David Russell
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
45.6966
1.3089
6
19
Matthew Payne/Will Davison
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
47.1243
1.4277
7
7
James Golding/Richie Stanaway
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
55.386
8.2617
8
18
Anton De Pasquale/Lee Holdsworth
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:00.4402
5.0542
9
8
Andre Heimgartner/Bryce Fullwood
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
1:02.4610
2.0208
10
38
Rylan Gray/Tony D’Alberto
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
1:12.3600
9.899
11
4
Jack Le Brocq/Harri Jones
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
1:15.5666
3.2066
12
55
Thomas Randle/Reuben Goodall
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
1:15.6933
0.1267
13
10
Zach Bates/Aaron Seton
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
1 lap
8.8365
14
15
Bayley Hall/Craig Lowndes
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
1 lap
0.4658
15
6
Cameron Waters/Mark Winterbottom
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
1 lap
5.5496
16
9
Jobe Stewart/Jarrod Hughes
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
1 lap
1.0621
17
17
Brodie Kostecki/Todd Hazelwood
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
1 lap
7.9091
18
14
Cameron Hill/Brad Vaughan
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
1 lap
2.0275
19
99
Cooper Murray/Lochie Dalton
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
1 lap
7.0728
20
11
Jackson Walls/Jack Perkins
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
1 lap
9.8167
21
96
Macauley Jones/Jordan Boys
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
1 lap
12.4441
22
5
Ben Gomersall/Campbell Logan
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
1 lap
27.73
23
20
David Reynolds/James Courtney
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
2 laps
45.7964
24
88
Broc Feeney/Nick Percat
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
3 laps
1 lap
25
3
Aaron Cameron/Zak Best
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
4 laps
28.6023
DNF
777
Declan Fraser/Nash Morris
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
Lap 135