If the maiden 500km race at The Bend was criticised for a lack of excitement, the same can’t be said of the second instalment using the West Circuit after Chaz Mostert and Fabian Coulthard took a stunning victory in the Toyota GR Supra’s first Ryco Endurance Championship start.
Allaying the reliability concerns put on the Toyota prior to the season of endurance, Mostert and Coulthard defied the treacherous weather conditions to the give the Walkinshaw TWG Racing squad a memorable victory.
The team’s joy extended to the final step of the podium thanks to Ryan Wood and Jaxon Evans scoring third, with the latter scoring making his maiden appearance.
In the middle of a Walkinshaw TWG Racing sandwich was Penrite Racing’s Kai Allen and Tim Slade, who led much of the early running in what were extremely treacherous conditions.
Mostert’s 19s victory handed him his first 500km Supercars enduro victory and it was Coulthard’s first since 2020 when he took victory at The Bend.
Penrite Racing’s Matt Payne took advantage of a rare poor day for the Red Bull Ampol Racing squad to re-take the championship lead, but it came after late drama while battling Jayden Ojeda led to a 5s penalty being handed to him.
Following the opening leg of the Ryco Enduro Cup, Payne holds a 120-point margin to Broc Feeney in the outright standings, while the top eight also consisting of Allen, Brodie Kostecki, Cam Waters, Anton De Pasquale and Mostert have all achieved Finals qualification.
Wood’s third place further strengthens his grip on making the Finals, while Jack Le Brocq sits in the last spot after Blanchard Racing Team’s James Golding was disqualified alongside teammate Aaron Cameron for not completing enough laps during the race. The team were caught out by the race being time certain, which failed to allow its primary drivers to achieve the laps required by the regulations.
After starring in the first half of the race, Erebus Motorsport’s strategy gamble played out as they were the first to switch to dry tyres, with the #99 Camaro of Lochie Dalton being the guinea pig when he jumped out for Cooper Murray on lap 75.
He radioed ahead to the crew encouraging race leader Jarrod Hughes to do the same the next time by when he handed over to Jobe Stewart, however time would prove Erebus were slightly too early for dry tyres.
After having the dominant car of the wet opening to the race, Allen began to fade back after losing what became the lead to Mostert, with Evans moving past the #26 Ford into second. Evans handed over the #2 Toyota to Wood on lap 84, and was the first of the leading contenders to make the switch to dry tyres.
It nearly worked wonders for Wood, who emerged from the pit cycle right on the rear bar of Mostert after the #1 Toyota made its switch to Soft tyres on lap 92.
However, despite Wood’s tyres being up to temperature, and Mostert struggling on his cold tyres, the reigning champion held position at the front of the field, and pulled out into a commanding position before the final round of stops.
Stanaway completed an ironman 90 lap stint and handed over to Golding for the run home in fourth, however that position slipped with a mistake and Turn 1 on lap 116, and then being baulked by the lapped Bayley Hall, promoting Payne to effective fourth and Brown to effective fifth.
Teams were bracing for a fourth Safety Car of the day when Macauley Jones had a high-speed lose at Turn 5, ripping off the right-hand side skirt on the #96 Toyota, which came to rest just off the racing line.
However, the race remained green, and Wood was the first to tick off their final stop of the day, pitting on lap 113 as the possibility of a time certain finish became a question.
Allen made his response on lap 126, and jumped back ahead of the Kiwi with a shorter fill of fuel, whilst with 20 minutes remaining it was confirmed that time certainty would come into effect.
Mostert made his final stop on lap 131, with just over 12 minutes remaining on the clock, and resumed in the lead with a 16-second lead over Allen, who in turn had seven seconds in hand over Wood.
The focus was on fourth, with Ojeda fending off Payne and Brown, the PremiAir Racing rookie recovering after co-driver David Russell went spinning early in the race.
However, both Fords had a tyre advantage over the #31 Chevrolet, and after a lap of searching, Payne dived down the inside of Turn 3 as the race entered its final 10 minutes, giving Ojeda the hip and shoulder to allow Brown by as well. Payne was handed a five second penalty in a decision that would have an impact on the minor places.
However out in front no one could touch Mostert, who cruised to a dominant victory, whilst the combination of Payne/Will Davison would be demoted back to sixth after their penalty.
That amazingly promoted Brown/Scott Pye to fourth, having lost a lap almost immediately after an opening lap incident, with Ojeda/Russell rounding out the top five.
The next round of the Repco Supercars Championship is the Bathurst 1000 on October 8-11.