Mostert heads WAU one-two in Adelaide opener

Chaz Mostert has led Nick Percat in a stunning Walkinshaw Andretti United one-two at the VALO Adelaide 500.

Mostert and Percat capped a perfect result in Race 33 in what is the team’s last round as a Holden team.

It was Mostert’s first Adelaide victory, his team’s first since James Courtney in 2016, and Holden’s 616th all time.

Percat — who started 20th — finished ahead of now-Tickford driver Courtney, who came home a brilliant third.

It was the first WAU podium for Adelaide-born Percat, and his first since Sydney 2021.

Mostert also set a new race lap record — a 1:20.288s — en route to victory.

"It was pretty edgy out there, had to get my elbows out with a few people," Mostert said.

"It was a tough race... these 250km races, they never pan out what you think.

"So good to get a one-two for the team, so good for Nick for the year he's had."

The first Adelaide race since February 2020 was a nightmare for Shane van Gisbergen and Cam Waters.

Van Gisbergen found the barriers twice and narrowly avoided suffering his first DNF since August 2020.

Pole man Waters, meanwhile, first hit the Turn 11 barriers before being penalised over his role in a late-race crash.

Waters and van Gisbergen finished 13th and 20th respectively.

Mostert reduced the margin to second-placed Waters from 175 to 91 points heading to Sunday.

Scott Pye matched Waters off the line, but the pole-sitter held position through the Senna Chicane.

Waters attempted to open a margin on Pye, who kept the Ford star honest.

Behind them, van Gisbergen — who started 25th — was up to 21st on the opening lap, and was 16th by lap 4.

Waters’ margin over Pye was 1.3s after five laps, and a margin opened up behind them.

From there, the casualties began to mount up, Jack Smith and James Golding both forced into their respective garages.

Van Gisbergen carried on his charge despite complaining of a front bar failure.

To lap 12, Waters led Pye by 1.2s, with Courtney — who passed Anton De Pasquale — five seconds further behind.

Courtney was first of the leaders to make his first compulsory stop on lap 18.

De Pasquale jumped the #5 Snowy Rivers Ford with a shorter stop — all the while, Waters had opened up his lead to 2.4s.

Earlier, David Reynolds — who was disqualified from the Shootout — made an error at Turn 10 and ran off at Turn 11.

Broc Feeney also made a mistake and nudged the tyre barriers at Turn 11.

Team 18 pulled the trigger and stopped Pye from second on lap 24, and he emerged 4.8s ahead of De Pasquale.

Waters and Andre Heimgartner stopped on lap 26, handing the lead to van Gisbergen.

On cold tyres, Waters slid into the Turn 11 barriers, and Pye ranged up behind the Monster Ford.

However, Pye bowled a wide of his own at Turn 13 and was unable to clear Waters.

Waters regained the lead once van Gisbergen stopped on lap 30, with the champion-elect resuming in 11th.

The leaders were split by 1.2s — but Pye was set to take on less fuel at his second stop.

On lap 37, the bad sportsmanship flag was unfurled for Pye for exceeding track limits.

On the following lap, the race turned on its head when Jack Le Brocq crashed at Turn 11.

Waters led the balance of the field in, and retained track position over Pye.

Courtney and Will Davison were forced to double-stack behind their respective teammates, while van Gisbergen short-fuelled and emerged effective fifth.

Chris Pither and Lee Holdsworth led the field to green on lap 41, with Waters, Pye, De Pasquale, Mostert and van Gisbergen behind.

Van Gisbergen ranged alongside Mostert at Turn 6, but dropped to 21st after side-to-side contact.

However, stewards deemed the contact a racing incident, with Mostert setting off after De Pasquale.

Waters tried to clear Pither at Turn 9 on lap 44, but only invited attack from Pye. On the following lap, Waters passed Pither, who then stopped.

Waters regained the lead from Holdsworth on lap 48, and set off creating a gap — but van Gisbergen crashed at Turn 11.

Waters and Pye fired in once the Safety Car was called, and the order remained the same between the two.

De Pasquale took the lead, but hadn’t yet completed the 140L fuel drop, and was suffering a communications issue.

Mostert took the lead at the lap 53 restart as De Pasquale stopped, with Percat also safe on fuel.

Behind them, a Waters dive on Macauley Jones at Turn 4 ended with Todd Hazelwood spinning at Turn 5, with Will Brown clattering into the #35.

The Safety Car was deployed for a third time, with Mostert leading Heimgartner, Percat, Courtney and Fullwood.

A cramping Heimgartner dropped down the order on the restart as Waters was handed a drive-through penalty over the Hazelwood incident.

On lap 58, Fullwood collided with Pye at Turn 9, and the #20 Commodore was forced into the garage. Fullwood, meanwhile, copped a drive-through of his own.

Mostert opened up a three-second lead over Percat, who fell into the clutches of Courtney.

Courtney, however, was unable to clear the 2011 Bathurst winner, with Mostert sailing to career win No. 21.

Brodie Kostecki raced from 13th to fourth, Tim Slade 12th to fifth, and Mark Winterbottom 21st to sixth.

Davison, Feeney, Heimgartner and Holdsworth rounded out the top 10.

Cars will return on Sunday for ARMOR ALL Qualifying at 11:00am local time.

The 12:05pm Shootout will complete the grid for the 2:45pm Race 34.