Chaz charges

Supercheap Auto racer Chaz Mostert has backed up yesterday’s ARMOR ALL Pole Position ahead of 200km at Sydney Motorsport Park this afternoon.

Still hunting for his first 2016 win, Mostert’s engineering team made a risky call to get out the car and end the session with five minutes remaining, in order to save a set of green soft tyres for this afternoon’s race.

Degradation has been a surprise issue this weekend with drivers shocked at how much the surface has deteriorated since racing at SMSP last year.

Mostert was nervous waiting for the chequered flag, with yesterday’s winner Shane van Gisbergen within three-hundredths of a second of his 1min29.4413 lap.

“There’s some very fast guys, but the car’s dialled in this weekend,” Mostert said.

“I was nervous – Shane was close, a few guys with quick micro-sectors – you can never be confident until after the chequered flag…

“It’s fantastic, I really want to get that win – we saved that set of tyres of today.”

Mostert halted the Triple Eight train, with Van Gisbergen alongside and Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes starting from the second row.

A podium, or victory, from Lowndes would be a fairytale given he brings up his 600th race at the circuit he debuted as a full-time driver and took Triple Eight’s first ever race win back in 2005.

Volvo teammates Scott McLaughlin and James Moffat took the third row, while defending champ Mark Winterbottom again found himself outside the top 10, starting from 11th on the grid.

Click here for full results from the session. 

The 200km race kicks off at 2pm local time.

Whincup leads van Gisbergen in the championship by 98 points.