Mostert hunts down Waters, Brown for Sydney sweep

Chaz Mostert has completed a Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight sweep, hunting down Cam Waters and Will Brown for victory in Race 16.

Mostert bookended his race with crucial overtake, passing pole-sitter Will Davison on lap 1 before getting by Waters and Brown in the final 11 laps.

Walkinshaw Andretti United opted for a two-stop strategy for Mostert, and armed with superior pace, chased down one-stoppers Waters and Brown with 11 laps to go to take the lead.

Mostert moved to second in the championship with the win, and is just 105 points behind Brown heading to Symmons Plains. After Darwin, the margin was 279 points.

Broc Feeney, who led the championship in the first two rounds, is now 153 points behind teammate Brown, having slashed the margin to 78 points in Townsville.

“Just a credit to the whole Walkinshaw Andretti United crew. We obviously rolled out a pretty good car and we kept chipping away at it,” Mostert said.

“The race car was something pretty special around here. Tonight the car was better again, which is a real credit to the team. We've just got to keep focusing on what we do, there's always something we can make it better."

After the lights went out, Davison hung on through Turn 1, but a slide at Turn 4 saw Mostert power down the inside of the #17 Mustang at Turn 6. The margin between Mostert and Davison breached one second on lap 3, two seconds on lap 5, and three seconds on lap 7.

Behind them, Brown and James Golding battled through Turn 5, with Nick Percat dropping from third to eighth. Down the order, Feeney was escorted onto the grass at Turn 8, and was unable to make ground from 16th.

As Percat and Ryan Wood battled over seventh, a brave dive by Matt Payne on both into Turn 1 set off a chain of events that saw Wood and David Reynolds collide into Turn 7, with cars going off the track. No further investigation was required over the clash.

Buried in 16th, Feeney was brought in on lap 11 for his first stop, kicking off the pit cycle. Payne, Wood, Thomas Randle and Reynolds stopped on lap 12, and Golding and Percat on lap 13.

As Golding emerged under heavy pressure from Feeney, Mostert and Davison stopped. Mostert emerged seven seconds ahead, with Payne all over Davison.

Waters, Brown and Anton De Pasquale pressed on, with Waters 2.6s ahead of Brown by lap 19. As the leaders caught Aaron Love, Brown cut it back to 1.7s on lap 22, and 0.9s on the following lap. By then, Mostert was nine seconds ahead of Davison.

Waters and De Pasquale were brought for their stops on lap 24, with Brown, Brodie Kostecki and Mark Winterbottom stopping on the following lap. It revealed Mostert as the leader over Davison, with the margin 12 seconds. Payne, Golding, Feeney, Percat, Wood, Randle, Reynolds and Jaxon Evans completed the 10, with Waters 19th. Brown was 1.9s behind in 20th, with De Pasquale, Winterbottom, and Kostecki 22nd through 24th.

Reynolds kicked off the second stops on lap 29, with Golding, Wood and Andre Heimgartner stopping on the next lap. All the while, Waters was 55 seconds behind Mostert, with Brown keeping pace as they worked through the field.

Payne, Feeney and Randle were brought in on lap 31, with Davison — who had dropped 15 seconds behind Mostert — and Percat pitting on the next lap.

WAU brought Mostert in in response, and the erstwhile leader emerged 10 seconds behind Waters. Behind the Monster Ford remained Brown, who was fighting to clear the off-sequence Richie Stanaway.

Waters took the lead once Cameron Hill and Jack Le Brocq stopped on lap 35. Stanaway was 1.3s behind, with Brown hounding the Penrite Ford. As Brown passed Stanaway, Mostert had slashed the margin to Waters to six seconds.

Mostert was 3.8s behind Waters once he passed Stanaway on lap 38, with the Penrite driver finally brought in for his second stop. Mostert made light work of Brown into Turn 4, and set off after Waters.

With 11 laps to go, Mostert made his move on Waters into Turn 1, and regained the lead. Behind them, Davison and Payne moved past Winterbottom, but still had 14 seconds to make up on Brown. Payne, however, got past Davison with nine to go.

On the final lap, Payne cleared De Pasquale for fourth at Turn 2, with Davison, Kostecki, Golding, Percat and Randle rounding out the top 10. Feeney was 11th, 33 seconds from the leader.

The 2024 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint on August 16-18. Tickets for the event are on sale now.