THE BLUE BOYS BREAK THE 2024 SUPERCARS DROUGHT

The Repco Supercars Championship headed across the Nullabor Plain for Round 4 and Races 9 and 10 in the 2024 championship.

After the opening three rounds the score was eight to zero in favour of the Chevrolet Camaro brigade, with the Ford Mustang Teams still coming to terms with a number of technical changes that were implemented to level the playing field.

It had been four-all in the pole position stakes prior to the Perth Supersprint, with pundits already writing off a genuine battle between Chevrolet and Ford.

Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU) put the pole position battle in favour of the blue oval with a 1-2 result in qualifying. Chaz Mostert led the way with his second pole of the season. Ryan Wood, Mostert’s rookie teammate, claimed second for the race ahead of Cameron Waters and Will Brown.

There were no team orders at WAU as the race began with Moster and Wood side-by-side into Turn 1. Mostert held the inside line, but Wood wasn’t about to back down and hung on around the outside of the opening corners to then hold the inside line at the uphill kink. Waters held third from the Red Bull Ampol racing duo of Brown and Feeney, while things didn’t fare well for TFH Hire driver Brodie Kostecki. The Erebus Racing Camaro was pushed out into the sand at Turn 1 and found himself a distant last by the time he rejoined the circuit.

Contact between Richie Stanaway and Aaron Love at the commencement of Lap 3 saw the Penrite Racing Mustang nudge the pit wall on driver’s left. The #26 completed the lap with smoke billowing from the pieces of front splitter that had become wedged under the car. Stanaway lost ten laps in the garage as the team set about repairs to the car.

Wood maintained the lead for the first 14 laps before a neat pass at the final corner saw Mostert back in front.

Courtney, Slade and De Pasquale were the first to make their compulsory stops just short of half-distance, with Brown the first of the lead group to stop at the end of Lap 27 of 55.

WAU covered the undercut with Wood in to the pitlane a lap later. Mostert waited another couple of laps before his tyre change, as did Waters.

At the end of the pitstop cycle it was Mostert in the lead, some 4 second ahead of Wood. Brown sat glued to the tail of the #2 Mustang and Kostecki, who had climbed 20 places from his first lap drama. A late stop and further problems saw Kostecki finish well down the order.

Brown took second place from Wood on Lap 39 after a bit of a scare out of Turn 6 and over the crest and Waters then looked to do likewise on the final lap of the race.

Wood had kept the Monster Energy Mustang at bay for a number of laps but was unable to block the pass on the run towards Turn 7. The #2 WAU driver looked to reply at the final corner and tapped the rear of Water’s Mustang. The forced the black #6 over the ripple strip on the entry to the front straight. Waters bounced back over the kerb and on to the circuit proper to take third place.

Craig Baird, the Supercars Driving Standards Officer, took a close look at the incident to see if Waters had gained an advantage. The final decision kept the result unchanged.

Mostert took the first race win of the year for WAU and the Ford Mustang, from Will Brown and Cameron Waters. Wood, Feeney, Courtney, Percat, Payne, De Pasquale and Randle were the top 10 finishers.

“Just just being aggressive, you know? Last year, we didn’t quite feel where we were with the window with the car,” said Mostert of the win, his first Supercars victory in nigh-on two years.

“We tried a lot of things. This year, I felt like every time he touched the car, it either did something. So [the recent] test day was about trying some big philosophy changes and we came here with it. We had to try and piece it all together and make it work. For [our] first crack at it, I think it’s pretty good.”

Photos thanks to James Smith

---

SUBSCRIBE TO VELOCITY MAGAZINE 

For all our news keep your eyes peeled on the Velocity Magazine website and social media, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for our daily updates and to get the latest edition of our glossy magazine subscribe here from just $55 for 12 months subscription.

GET OUR LATEST ISSUE NUMBER 51 HERE

 

 

NAMING RIGHTS SPONSOR