Chaz Mostert, Lee Holdsworth Dominate Bathurst 1000

On Saturday, Chaz Mostert broke the lap record for an Australian Supercar at Mount Panorama. It was a declaration of overwhelming speed, which he and co-driver Lee Holdsworth made good on over 161 dominant laps today.

Mostert was comfortably the fastest driver on track. When the race ran under long stretches of the green flag, he built a significant lead. When the race was slogged down by a series of safety cars, he pulled away from 2020 race winner and 2021 series champion Shane van Gisbergen again and again. His co-driver Holdsworth was no slouch, either. While he lost the lead on the start, he had the No. 25 Walkinshaw Andretti United Holden out to a five second lead by lap ten.

The pair's only serious trouble all day came when a tire delaminated mid-race. It dropped Mostert to 12th and forced him onto an alternate strategy, but he recovered time on track through an impressive combination of raw pace and superior fuel mileage. A gaggle of safety cars at the beginning of the final third of the race then effectively set the field onto the same strategy, making the problem a moot point quickly.

The most memorable of those safety cars was for an echidna. The spiky little egg-laying mammal walked out onto the track and safely avoided being hit by the field until the safety car was called, surviving the race and adding themselves to the long list of Australian-native animals that have delayed the Bathurst 1000.

While van Gisbergen seemed set to finish second behind Mostert for almost the entire race, he suffered a puncture of his own in the final stint. That relinquished second to the Tickford Ford pair of Cameron Waters and James Moffat. The Erebus pair of Brodie Kostecki and David Russell completed the podium.

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