Mostert nails start, Lowndes’ form continues

Chaz Mostert

At last Chaz Mostert nailed a race start and ran away with yet another Prodrive Racing Australia victory while the continued rise of the once dormant Red Bull Racing is gathering pace.

Mostert turned the tables on teammate Mark Winterbottom by converting his eighth ARMOR ALL Pole Position into a victory at the Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint.

There is no great surprise in the continued dominance of PRA but the charge of Craig Lowndes is just as noticeable. His teammate Jamie Whincup too showed variable pace but was without luck in the pits or on the track.

Lowndes held station behind Mostert and in front of Winterbottom as he and the Championship leader continued to trade a handful of points one way or another. Winterbottom’s third means he stays well out in front of Lowndes in the title hunt.

With the big points races of the Pirtek Enduro Cup just around the corner Lowndes will need every bit of his big race reputation to peg back the gap while relying on the most consistent man in the field, Winterbottom, to falter.

“If we were at Homebush I’d be loving it. Anything can happen. Motorsport is a cruel sport. It’s not like you’re running 100m down a track where you can dictate a lot of it yourself. A lot can go on, a lot can change," Winterbottom said.

“The enduros are big, there are a lot of points on offer. Maybe you can crash, have a mechanical failure, whatever it is and that’s 300 points.

“Instantly you can go from leading, to being second. The good part is, when we get out of the Gold Coast (600), we’ll be in contention, as we’ll have a good point’s buffer.

“We have a bad round up our sleeve. Craig doesn’t. If he has a bad round, he’ll be 500 points behind. We’ll be in contention. Whether it’s comfortable or not will be dictated by the enduros."

There is no better master of the Wilson Security Sandown 500 and Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 than Lowndes but PRA’s form is almost as good with back-to-back Bathurst crowns and multiple podiums at Sandown. It is likely those races and the Castrol Gold Coast 600 may decide the ultimate Champion.

“We’re looking around it," Lowndes said when asked if Red Bull was turning the corner ahead of the bigger points weekends.

“I don’t know if we’ve turned it but we definitely improved the car over the course of this weekend. Our hard tire pace was always the problem and we’ve managed to pick that up.

“Our soft tire has always been good but we haven’t got the durability out of it. I think we’ve proved we’ve now got multiple laps and follow these guys for a race distance so it is improving, no doubt.

“Grant and I are working really hard we’ve got some things we want to try for SMSP (Sydney Motorsport Park August 21-23) so we’re looking good.

“If we can maintain where we are in the Championship at the nicer end of the year, the endurance racing, then I think it will be a great part for us."

Mostert busted off the line in front of Winterbottom and Lowndes before holding station throughout a safety car free race. His team had changed to a different clutch overnight in an attempt to help him not get bogged down at the start.

“It was fantastic to get the start," Mostert said. “It felt like a win just getting off the line. It was good to actually use the pole position to an advantage. I don’t think it was great, but it was good enough. It’s good to have a good feeling now so hopefully we can keep being consistent from now on."

Whincup initially gave way to Lowndes on lap five and suffered from two difficult pit stops, with fuel spraying in the first, a jammed front right in the second; and ran off track in the later stages after a closely fought battle with good mate Will Davison.

The closing laps saw a bizarre in-car outburst from Todd Kelly after his Nissan stopped with two laps left to run, and Davison had a good go at James Courtney for sixth – but it was Mostert who flew out the front, ultimately winning by 5.61sec lead over Lowndes.

The Holden Racing Team Commodores of Garth Tander and Courtney came home in fifth sixth, with Davison and Whincup behind. It was another tough day for Shane van Gisbergen, who qualified down the back and finished the race in 21st position.

The V8 Supercars next hit the track at Sydney Motorsport Park from August 21-23.

Mostert and Lowndes are two of five drivers who will go to Malaysia this week for a V8 Supercars showcase at the KL City Grand Prix.

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