Chaz Mostert has thrown down the gauntlet within the chase for the 2026 Supercars crown after taking his third straight win within the opening race at Sandown Park close to Melbourne.
The Walkinshaw Andretti United took the lead on the first nook and thereafter was headed solely by his team-mate Ryan Wooden, who nearly waved him previous and later performed the function of tailgunner.
Already eradicated from title competition underneath Supercars’ new Finals system, Wooden began from pole place and it regarded just like the WAU Ford Mustangs would motor dwelling to make it a 1-2.
However not many had been relying on Will Brown. The Triple Eight synthetic an actual mess in qualifying, rolling the cube with a single qualifying run after which watching in horror as a secure place inside the highest 10 dropped like a inventory market crash, leaving his Chevrolet Camaro fifteenth on the grid.
Nonetheless, Brown made a gradual begin after which lit up the monitor, taking spot after spot and gaining round six seconds on the leaders in his opening stint. He stored going within the second stint, shifting from the sting of the highest 10 to sixth, after which set after the Fords of Kai Allen and Matt Payne (Grove Racing) and Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing) to take fourth, having gained 11 locations.
Subsequent up was team-mate and factors chief Broc Feeney, who watched Brown blast previous him with 13 laps to go, after which the present Supercars Champion chased down the 2 leaders.
Walkinshaw Andretti United pair Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wooden had dominated the 81-lap race, seemingly cruising round on the entrance in a pair after ranging from the entrance row of their Ford Mustangs. However Brown plotted a means round Wooden with 4 laps to go and sped away, although Mostert was 4s clear and out of attain.
“I owe Woody a beer tonight, he saved my bacon on the market,” he mentioned after his third straight win.
“Right now was a little bit of a present. Trying ahead to coming again and getting on the opposite [soft] tyre tomorrow.
“I noticed Broc coming and I used to be simply preserving and eye on his instances. Then Will was doing 10-lows and I believed, ‘why is he going that quick?’ An unimaginable race from Will, however we’ll take it and transfer on.”
Brown was happy after his cost to second.
“In that quick sting, I knew we had one thing fairly good.
“It was like Maverick and Goose up there, Woody was like a wingman. I knew it was going to be exhausting to stand up there. We hit fairly exhausting over there [at Turn 4 where he overtook Wood] and I obtained the man to test the tyres however they mentioned, it was all good.”
Wooden admitted his function was a defensive one.
“To get him into the ultimate 4 is such a aid for all of us and that was our job for as we speak,” he mentioned.
“I in all probability over-defended to attempt to get Chaz a spot. I wanted to get him the win there.”
In fourth place got here Feeney forward of three Fords, Kostecki (DJR) and the Grove Racing entries of Payne and Allen.
It was a troublesome Saturday for Tickford Racing, which introduced its two drivers into the weekend in title competition. Cam Waters began ninth and completed twelfth however qualifying was a catastrophe for team-mate Thomas Randle. He rolled the cube on making a single qualifying run and the outcome was twenty second on the grid. From there, the perfect he might hope for was a race of attrition or dangerous climate, however neither ever arrived and he got here dwelling in sixteenth place.
With the win Mostert is now seeded as one of many 4 drivers to advance to the ultimate spherical in Adelaide as a Finals contender. On the similar time, he truly took over the factors lead on 4270 factors, three forward of Feeney and 66 away from Brown. Payne is fourth forward of Allen, whereas Waters and Randle have quite a lot of floor to make up in Sunday’s second 81-lap race.
The Supercars might be again on monitor at Sandown at 11:40am for 2 qualifying periods earlier than a High 10 Shoot Out at 12:10pm. The 250km race is because of begin at 3:20pm (all Australian Jap Daylight Financial savings Time).
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