Mostert powers home for convincing Perth victory, Wood 4th

Chaz Mostert converted pole position into race victory in the opening outing of the Perth SuperSprint, leading home championship leader Will Brown by 4.9 seconds.

Cam Waters managed a final lap pass on Ryan Wood to take the final podium spot, leaving the Kiwi agonisingly short of his maiden top-three finish.

Wood and Waters finished a distant seven seconds behind Brown and 13 off the pace of the race winner.

Broc Feeney was fifth, ahead of James Courtney and Nick Percat, while Matt Payne made late ground for eighth. Anton De Pasquale and Thomas Randle completed the top ten.

Andre Heimgartner was 13th, ahead of Jaxon Evans in 18th, while Richie Stanaway finished 11 laps down after making contact with the wall following contact from Aaron Love while battling a fuel pump issue on Lap 2.

Wood was the better of the starters off the front row and ran around the outside at Turn 1 to take the lead, with his teammate slotting in behind and Waters holding off the Red Bull duo in third.

Brodie Kostecki, Matt Payne and Nick Percat ran three-wide into the opening corner, with the defending champion venturing off-road as the field tightened.

Stanaway’s incident occurred at Turn 7 on Lap 2. His car slowed and came into contact with Aaron Love, half-spinning the car and sending it nose-first into the main straight barrier. He was able to return to the pit lane and rejoined the race a number of laps off the pace.

Payne managed his pace in the top ten well and moved to seventh with a tidy pass on James Courtney on Lap 9.

Mostert took the lead off his teammate on Lap 14 as Waters remained nearby and Brown closed in on the leading trio.

Once in clear air, Mostert was able to pull clear, gradually extending his advantage lap-by-lap.

Wood came in for his stop on Lap 27, one lap after Brown, and retained his net position as the window played out until Lap 35 when Heimgartner boxed.

By then, Mostert’s lead was nearly three seconds, and Brown was closing in on the Kiwi.

The Red Bull driver made the move on the back straight on Lap 40 of 55, but by that point, the leader had cleared out to over five seconds ahead, which was too much for Brown to overcome.

Waters initially passed Wood on Lap 53, but a better exit out of Turn 7 allowed the WAU entry to take the place back at Turn 1.

However, Waters made it stick on the final circuit, leaving the rookie to fall just tenths short of his maiden podium.

Supercars return on Sunday for Practice 3 at 1.40 pm, qualifying at 4.00 pm, and Race 10 at 7.45 pm.

Perth SuperSprint Race 1 Results

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