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<\/p>\n
His day done, he parked up his Walkinshaw Mustang and trudged to the infield, where he drowned his sorrows in a can of beer.<\/p>\n
\u201cGutted, but I\u2019m not thirsty anymore,\u201d he quipped on social media afterwards.<\/p>\n
It was Mostert\u2019s first failure to finish in 12 starts at Mount Panorama.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had such high highs and such low lows,\u201d Mostert tells the Fox Sports Pit Talk podcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think probably the thing that keeps me realistic about Bathurst is that you can prepare the best and something can go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the two-time Bathurst 1000 winner is too seasoned to think that luck evens out in Australia\u2019s most gruelling touring car race.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never feel like you\u2019re owed one,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a race you\u2019ve got to earn, and you\u2019ve got to be in it for a 1000km sprint race.<\/p>\n
FEATURE: Tragedy that rocked Aussie sport 20 years on… as stars lift lid on legend\u2019s most unforgettable act <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think you\u2019d be pretty naive as a race car driver to think that it\u2019s all going to be given to you or that it\u2019s a certainty that you\u2019re going to be in the fight.<\/p>\n \u201cThings happen around there. We\u2019ve seen it on so many different people\u2019s stories at different times throughout their careers, and I think that\u2019s what makes heritage of Bathurst so special, because there is the part of the day of that glory of someone achieving and a team achieving greatness \u2014 and then you have also got the heartbreak story.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately last year was me adding to a list of heartbreak stories around Bathurst, but I\u2019ve had some amazing days there as well.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just makes you hungry to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n Chaz Mostert cracks a beer after his Bathurst heartbreak.Source: Supplied<\/p>\n TOYOTA HEADS FOR THE SUMMIT<\/p>\n The picture couldn\u2019t be more different for Mostert\u2019s return to the Great Race.<\/p>\n His Bathurst DNF was the latest blow in a deeply underwhelming season that left him a distant fifth on the title table. He had just one win to show for his efforts and was a championship outsider.<\/p>\n Then he flipped the script.<\/p>\n He swept both victories on the Gold Coast and won again in Sandown to punch his ticket for the Adelaide Grand Final, where a trio of second-place finishes took him to title glory in his 13th season in the main game.<\/p>\n But as was the case with Mostert\u2019s long road to the championship, his title defence has come with complication.<\/p>\n \u201cFor sure the year\u2019s felt pretty different,\u201d he says. \u201cBut saying that, coming into this year\u2019s been a whole different set of goals for us: a brand-new manufacturer in the sport with Toyota.<\/p>\n \u201cIt has been super exciting to be working with the GR Supra, and it\u2019s almost like starting a little bit from square one again and starting to learn all your new tools.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the start of the year when we sat down, you\u2019re trying to work out how this year is going to unpack.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the moment, considering where we are at this part of the season, I\u2019m so proud of all the guys and girls at Walkinshaw TWG Racing and how much they\u2019ve worked on this brand new Supra coming in, and to get some results pretty early on is pretty spectacular.\u201d<\/p>\n Toyota was sure to keep expectations in check, and consensus was that it would take at least a year, if not longer, for homologation team Walkinshaw TWG Racing and customer squad Brad Jones Racing to come up to speed.<\/p>\n The parity system would help to level the playing field, but the margins are so fine in the Gen3 era, in force since 2023, that even tiny discrepancies would be the difference between success and failure.<\/p>\n Instead Walkinshaw got its first podium just five races into the season, and Ryan Wood nabbed the brand\u2019s first of three victories so far in race 9.<\/p>\n With one victory for BJR, Toyota has accumulated four wins \u2014 compared to Chevrolet\u2019s two.<\/p>\n Though consistency has lacked and reliability niggles were a problem particularly in the campaign \u2014 and though Ford has been the clear benchmark \u2014 Toyota has far surpassed expectations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe team\u2019s worked extremely hard,\u201d Mostert says.<\/p>\n \u201cThis year\u2019s been so cutthroat \u2014 there\u2019ve been so many heavy hitters this year and so many teams that are able to strike for race wins at different places. <\/p>\n \u201cAlways the focus this year is about trying to better ourselves and learn our new package and go from there. <\/p>\n \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been the easiest of years, but the way they\u2019ve assessed those situations, the way they\u2019ve put plans moving forward and what they have been able to do this year in such a short period of time with such a new platform is super impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n Legends recount epic Bathurst memories | 10:51<\/p>\n BEND BOOST<\/p>\n But is it impressive enough to win in Bathurst?<\/p>\n Despite Toyota\u2019s fast ascent, the Great Race still seemed like a long-odds bet \u2014 until Mostert and co-driver Fabian Coulthard stormed to victory in heavy weather at Tailem Bend.<\/p>\n The 500km curtain-raiser couldn\u2019t have been run in worse conditions, with teams and drivers pushed to their limits in pursuit of victory.<\/p>\n Despite starting an underwhelming 11th and 14th respectively, Mostert and Wood emerged with a double podium, with victory and third place.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take a lot of confidence from it because in the most chaotic day probably we\u2019ve seen all year so far in any race, our team stepped up,\u201d Mostert enthuses. \u201cOur co-drivers, Fabs and Jaxon, drove unbelievably in those tricky conditions, stayed out of trouble, and the cars were very competitive in those wet conditions as well.<\/p>\n \u201cEven when the track dried out towards the end of the race, our car was really, really fast still.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll take a lot of confidence from it, because even in the chaotic part of the race, the team was able to make the right decisions at the right time and get us in a good position to stay out of trouble and also give us a chance to fight for a fantastic result at the end of the day.<\/p>\n \u201cEnduro races are so tricky because it\u2019s not just like some of the sprints where you get the car out, you do one pit stop \u2014 you\u2019ve got multiple pit stops, you\u2019ve got multiple decisions to make for a long distance of time, and I find that at Walkinshaw TWG Racing, we did everything that we did at Tailem, and that\u2019s what got us the first and the third.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take a lot of confidence from that, and the things that we can still also work on into the Bathurst 1000.\u201d<\/p>\n Bathurst, though, is a completely difference challenge, even apart from the fact it\u2019s twice as long.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the first time it\u2019s going to Bathurst; it\u2019s going to have probably the hardest race that the Toyota Supra has had all year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gives us great confidence going out of Tailem Bend \u2014 we ticked that box. Now we\u2019re going to go to 1000, tick that box.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes in any racing thing, you need those races under your belt to know that 100 per cent you\u2019re confident in what you\u2019ve got.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything that I can see so far has been unbelievable, such a credit to the team for how hard they\u2019ve worked, and then in the background short timeframes between rounds, so it\u2019s so nice to get that result with the first and third at Tailem to reward that.\u201d<\/p>\n But he cautions: \u201cObviously Bathurst is its own event, the Holy Grail. We\u2019re just going to have to send it and see how we do.\u201d<\/p>\n Chaz Mostert’s pit crew celebrate as Chaz crosses the finish line to win Bathurst 1000 with his co-driver Paul Morris. Photo: Tim Hunter.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n HOW TO WIN BATHURST<\/p>\n Bathurst often defies the form guide. At some point teams no longer in contention for the Sprint Cup or the championship focus on getting the best result possible on the sport\u2019s biggest stage, and inevitably teams and drivers you may have discounted through the season rise to the top.<\/p>\n Erebus rookie Cooper Murray had an average finishing result of 17th last year. He was in the lead of the race in the final laps until he was punted out of the way by James Golding.<\/p>\n Bathurst was the only 2025 podium result for Golding\u2019s PremiAir team.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know that between the 26 cars on the grid this year, every driver there is more than capable of doing the right job and getting the win on that day,\u201d Mostert says. \u201cThe amount of teams we have, you\u2019ve seen multiple different teams over multiple different years win that race as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Mostert, a two-time winner, says there\u2019s no surefire way to ensure you\u2019re in the mix at the finish \u2014 though some circumspection in the early practice session is a good place to start.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to respect your competition, but also your biggest competition is yourself and making sure you just try to do the best job you can, build into that weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cI made it pretty hard for myself last year, I got a bit excited in practice one [and crashed at Griffins Bend], which always seems to come out at every stage with me at some point.<\/p>\n \u201cBut you just want to drive that track as fast as you can, and sometimes you\u2019ve got to realistically put it back in. I probably look more at my practice last year as things to learn off than actually from the race side of things.\u201d<\/p>\n Keeping emotions in check is part of the battle \u2014 particularly this year.<\/p>\n The benchmark at Bathurst has long been, and surely will always be, Peter Brock, the nine-time winner and undisputed King of the Mountain.<\/p>\n This year the sport is commemorating his life, achievements and legacy 20 years after his death.<\/p>\n Every driver in the sport would dearly love to add their name to the Peter Brock Trophy. Some value it above the championship.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know how much the race means to you, how much that event means to all the people that come and support us there,\u201d Mostert says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not just coming back as race car drivers or have been lucky enough to win it a couple of times; we\u2019re actually still coming back to the mountain as fans of the place because we get to race on this racetrack that has amazing history and heritage.<\/p>\n \u201cEven when we rock up and you see the Mount Panorama sign getting into town, you just get goosebumps. That\u2019s what it means to us.\u201d<\/p>\n But it would surely mean even more to win it in a Toyota for the first time.<\/p>\n \u201cThanks for adding all the extra pressure!\u201d Mostert laughs.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously any time you win at Bathurst is so special, but on debut for Toyota would be something unbelievable, and obviously the championship as well.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a really tough year. We\u2019ve fought really hard. We\u2019ve been getting better, and I\u2019m really proud of that, and hopefully we\u2019re on the right trajectory now towards the end of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll try our absolute best, like we have every other year, me and Woody, and we\u2019ll see if we can shock some people. That\u2019s the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n But preparation can only take you so far at Mount Panorama.<\/p>\n \u201cI always believe that the Bathurst gods have already got the story written out for this year. We\u2019ve just got to go along the journey of the story and see who it\u2019s chosen for the day.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been lucky enough to win it twice, and I\u2019m absolutely honoured to do that, and we\u2019ll keep coming back trying to win it again, because it\u2019s the best feeling in Australian motorsport.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chaz Mostert was hoping to sign off from the 2025 Bathurst 1000 with a different sort of drink.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":917820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-917819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}