Mostert hunts down Payne for Sydney victory

Chaz Mostert overturned a 15-second deficit to Matt Payne to take victory in this evening’s Sydney SuperNight opener at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Having started tenth after spinning in the Top 10 Shootout, the Kiwi Townsville 500 race winner made four positions on the first two laps to move into sixth and ran long over the opening stint to hit the front on Lap 18 when the last of the lead group made their stops.

Payne ran until Lap 23, taking a full load of field and new tyres, electing for a one-stop strategy and returning in 21st.

He hit the front again on Lap 36 once most of the field had made their second stops, emerging with a 15-second margin over Chaz Mostert.

On fresher tyres, the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver quickly ate into this advantage, easily taking the lead with four laps remaining to power to a 2.6412-second victory.

Early leader Thomas Randle threatened to take second off Payne late in the race but ultimately ran out of time to overturn the seven-second deficit and settled for third.

Will Davison led home teammate Anton De Pasquale for fourth, with the Shell V-Power Racing duo locking out the top five places for Ford.

Championship leader Will Brown was the first Camaro home in sixth, while his teammate Broc Feeney finished ninth.

Andre Heimgartner was the second Kiwi home in 12th, one place to the good of Ryan Wood.

Richie Stanaway was 16th, and Jaxon Evans 18th.

Randle had earlier got the better of the starts under the Sydney lights and took the lead off his pole-sitting teammate through Turn 1.

A lockup for Mark Winterbottom cost Macauley Jones through the opening corner, with the #18 Camaro veering right across the track into the BJR entry. Both cars spun onto the grass before returning to the track. Winterbottom returned to his garage at the end of Lap 2, losing eight laps on the field while in for repairs.

At the end of the opening tour, Randle led Waters, Mostert, De Pasquale, Davison, Broc Feeney and a fast-starting Payne, who got past the Red Bull at Turn 1 on Lap 2.

Bryce Fullwood was the next driver to find trouble, spinning on his own on Lap 4 and dropping to the rear of the field. Stanaway was forced into a slide to avoid the #14 Camaro.

The front three pulled to over one second clear by Lap 8, but the advantage quickly evaporated when Mostert and Waters battled for second on Lap 11, with the former taking the position.

De Pasquale, Davison, Payne and Feeney pulled onto the rear of Waters while Randle’s advantage up front extended to over two seconds.

De Pasquale was the first of the lead group to stop on Lap 15, while Randle and Mostert stopped together two tours later. Mostert took a lighter fuel intake to hit the net lead of those who had stopped.

Waters stopped on Lap 18, losing time in the pit lane due to a suspected slow fuel fill rate. Having not stopped, Payne hit the front.

Jack Le Brocq was released into the path of Heimgartner when exiting his pit bay on Lap 20 and received a 15-second penalty after the duo made contact.

Up front, Payne remained out until Lap 23, dropping to 21st but with a full fuel tank. He was forced to conserve tyres for the 28-lap run to the flag, with the others still to stop again.

Waters and De Pasquale were among a large group to make their second stops on Lap 30, and Mostert followed two laps later. Randle and Brown followed the next tour.

Once the second window had played out, Mostert emerged as the leader of the two-stoppers, having successfully undercut Randle from the first round of stops and benefitting in clear air. He sat second, 15 seconds behind the one-stopping leader.

Payne’s advantage was down to 6.7 seconds five laps later, and a further five laps later, Mostert was onto the Kiwi’s rear.

The #25 Mustang hit the lead on Lap 47 and quickly pulled clear for victory, with Randle unable to follow from a further seven seconds adrift.

Davison was 14 seconds down the road from the podium, two seconds ahead of his teammate.

Le Brocq’s day worsened on Lap 47, with white smoke and flames coming from the Erebus Camaro as its engine gave way. He returned to pit lane and was the only non-finisher.

Supercars return for a further race on Sunday, with timed qualifying at 2.05 pm NZST, followed by the Top 10 Shootout at 3.40 pm and the 51-lap daylight race at 6.05 pm.

Sydney SuperNight Race 1 Results

Header Image: Walkinshaw Andretti United