By Thomas Miles
Date posted: April 5, 2023
For the second round in a row, the hopes of a Chaz Mostert Supercars race win were hurt by tyre life, which is an area Walkinshaw Andretti United has targeted ahead of Perth.
Mostert emerged from the Newcastle opener as the top points scorer, but relinquished his championship lead to Brodie Kostecki after a dramatic Melbourne SuperSprint.
Car #25 still had the orange stickers in the fourth and final race of the weekend on Sunday morning with a slender one-point advantage.
Mostert started strong, having overtaken Broc Feeney and held off a challenge from Will Brown to lead the first seven laps of the 13-lap race.
This was down to poor tyre life as the #25 Mustang eventually slumped to a P15 finish, while Kostecki’s charge from 14th to third created a 75-point swing, which was enough to not only bring the Larry Perkins Trophy to car #99, but also the championship lead.
It was a blow for Mostert, who had not finished outside of the top five in any of the first five races of the season.
“Bit of a disappointing finish in the end there,” Mostert said.
“Thank you to everyone for their hard work, we will regroup and go again in Perth.”
Chaz Mostert leads Will Brown at the front of the field in race 6 at Albert Park. Image: EDGE Photographics/Mark Horsbrugh
After finishing second best in the tense finish, Mostert told a similar story, having also pointed towards tyre degradation as a weakness of his Ford.
“I left it all out there (in race 2 at Newcastle) and tried my hardest to make my tyres live, but in the last 10 laps of each stint I started to hit a cliff in degradation,” he said.
“I am good for the first 20 laps, but after that it was a bit of a battle once I start hurting the tyre and braking starts to struggle.”
Wanneroo has not been the happiest of hunting grounds for either WAU or Mostert. 
The pair’s only WA trip together last year netted tough results of P22, P12 and P19.
However, WAU team principal Bruce Stewart believes the team has the tools to reclaim the championship lead at Perth on April 28-30.
“It clearly has not been the weekend we had hoped and planned for, but we continue to learn a lot about the new Ford Mustang,” Stewart told Supercars.com.
“That means both the set-up needed for speed in qualifying and to race strong at the front.
“We’re pushing forward with the Mustang and looking to move back to the lead in the drivers’ championship with Chaz.”
For more of the latest motorsport news, pick up the latest issue of AUTO ACTION.
AUTO ACTION, Australia’s independent voice of motorsport.
Get the latest updates delivered directly to your inbox
You have successfully joined our subscriber list.
With one car capitalising from pole and the other recovering from the back half of the grid, Red Bull put on yet another dominant performance to secure their second 1-2 finish […]
The RevLimiter podcast has been repackaged for 2023 with an expanded scope and the addition of two new voices. The first episode is out now, unpacking all the drama and […]
Max Verstappen has kicked off his pursuit of a hat-trick of Formula 1 titles perfectly, by dominating the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Poleman Verstappen enjoyed an untroubled journey across the […]
James Courtney has become the second victim this weekend to a fire believed to be caused by a tyre pressure sensor on the new Gen3 racers. Nick Percat yesterday suffered […]
Auto Action is published by
ACTION MEDIA PARTNERS

ABN 629 709 4459
PHONE 03 9563 2107
EMAIL [email protected]
ABN 62 976 094 459
www.autoaction.com.au
Facebook @autoactionmag
Twitter @Auto_Action
Instagram @autoactionmag
Online Shop
Bruce Williams
[email protected]
PHONE 0418 349 555
Caroline Garde
[email protected]

source