Mostert Is Lord Of The Rings
It took a flat tyre to break Chaz Mostert’s choke hold on the TCR Australia Championship at Phillip Island but there could be more good news for his tiny turbo tin-top rivals.
Despite winning two of his three starts at The Island in an Audi RS3, two of them in a formation finish with his team mate Luke King and a Saturday display that finished with a 32-second margin, Mostert is no certainty to complete the championship.
Even though he leads the series with a 15-point break over King, with Lee Holdsworth running third in an Alfa after a troubled time on the weekend, Mostert is still on a race-by-race deal with the Melbourne Performance Centre and his backers from Bostik.
“Still waiting to hear,” Mostert told Race News as he left Phillip Island.
The uncertainty should be ended before the TCR series resumes at Bathurst over Easter, but nothing could cloud Jason Bargwanna’s delight when Mostert’s late puncture gifted him a maiden victory in the series – the first for Peugeot – and his first win in more than three years.
“Bloody hell, I’m stoked. I’m seriously stoked. I found a rhythm, I was in the zone,” Bargwanna told Race News.
“It’s so satisfying. And even more satisfying to come across the line with my son Ben behind me.”
“I should retire right now. But that’s not going to happen,” he joked.
Bargwanna’s win came as the racer who shared his Bathurst 1000 victory, Garth Tander, was also victorious in the GT World Challenge Australia sharing an Audi R8 with its owner Yasser Shahin after a pair of torrid one-hour mini-enduros that also saw Supercars aces Jamie Whincup and Mostert spending time in the lead.
The TCR undercard produced other great racing as Joey Mawson drove brilliantly to win the S5000 single seater feature, after 17-year old Cooper Webster raced to a shock win in monsoon conditions on Saturday afternoon, as Nathan Herne battled with Aaron Noonan in Trans Am and holds the series lead.
Herne had the biggest crash of the weekend when he launched his S5000 over Thomas Randle, who still leads the series, at the start of the final race.
While Mostert and King were dominant in the TCR early races, John Martin and Tony D’Alberto found much-needed pace in their Honda Type Rs, after being totally outclassed at the season opener at Symmons Plains. Martin managed third in the second of three TCR races and D’Alberto did even better in the last start, to second despite a late threat from Nathan Morcom who finished strongly in third in a Hyundai i30.
“I’m relieved. We didn’t know really what to expect, but the car was good from the time we rolled out on Friday,” D’Alberto said.
“I had to survive the rain on Saturday, then we were in a good position. We’re still not quite as quick as the Audi, but we’re getting closer.”
The biggest loser at Phillip Island was Jordan Cox, who arrived as the TCR championship leader thanks to plenty of speed with his Alfa Giulietta at the season opener in Tasmania but he had to watch the last race from the pits after crash damage saw him slip to eighth in the standings.
CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS
TCR AUSTRALIA SERIES
- Chaz Mostert, Audi, 212 points; 2. Luke King, Audi, 197; 3. Lee Holdsworth, Alfa, 187; 4. Tony D’Alberto, Honda, 169; 5. Nathan Morcom, Hyundai, 165; 6. Aaron Cameron, Peugeot, 163; 7. John Martin, Honda, 158; 8. Jason Bargwanna, Peugeot, 148; 9. Josh Buchan, Hyundai, 147; 10. Ben Bargwanna, Peugeot, 143.
VHT AUSTRALIAN DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP
- Thomas Randle, 209 points; 2. Tim Macrow, 203; 3. Joey Mawson, 198.
GT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP AUSTRALIA
- Garth Tander/Yasser Shahin, Audi R8, 50 points; 2. Jefri Ibrahim/Jamie Whincup, Mercedes GT, 33; 3. Stephen/Brenton Grove, Porsche 911, 30.
TRANS AM CHAMPIONSHIP
- Nathan Herne, 376 points; 2. Aaron Seton, 374; 3. Edan Thornburrow, 316.
