Chaz Mostert fought hard all afternoon for the final spot of the podium but ultimately too far behind, in the penultimate race of the 2023 Supercars Championship.
It was a strong start to the weekend with both cars showing fast pace in Thursday’s practice session.
Chaz secured himself a spot in the Top 10 Shootout on Friday with Nick Percat narrowly missing out, starting 13th for Race 27.
At midday, as the clouds started to cover the track, Chaz went out for a lap around the streets of Adelaide to himself, he put together a strong lap and secured himself P7 for the race, up one position from where he qualified.
It was a circus of an opening lap with the Mobil 1 Optus Racing No. 25 and the Mobil 1 NTI Racing No. 2 avoiding the carnage, up one position each as they settled into the rhythm.
Both drivers ran similar strategies coming into the lane on lap 26, pitting on consecutive laps for four green tyres.
Nick struggled with race pace and rear grip in the final stints of the race, bringing the car home in P18.
Meanwhile, Chaz ran a long middle stint coming out in a battling pack with strong race pace and fresher tyres in the final stint, fighting his way forward with some great battles to cross the finish line in P4.
There is a lot of work to do tonight before another big day on track tomorrow with the final qualifying session, a Top 10 shootout and the last time the cars hit the track for the 250km Race 28.
Chaz Mostert
“We’ve shown some good pace this weekend, disappointed I didn’t get the best out of the car during the shootout, so that will be my focus tomorrow, starting a little bit further up.
“Fourth was all we had today, we would have loved to have been on the podium but we will put our heads together tonight, try and get the rear a little friendlier and have one last crack at it for the year tomorrow!”
Nick Percat
“Tough end to the race today, we will go through it all and work out how we can make the car a bit happier towards the end, but I think we’ve got a reasonable qualifying car so hopefully we can put it in the shooutout tomorrow.
“Looking forward to one final race before we sign off together, lets hope we can end it on a high!”