Supercars head west – race report

Supercars headed West this past weekend, and what a weekend it was for the boys and girls at Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU). After rare mechanical issues in the previous round in Taupo, New Zealand, we were all hoping for a better weekend this time round.

The weekend started with an hour of practice on Friday, and both WAU drivers quickly showed their pace over one lap and simulated race pace. Chaz Mostert finished 1^st overall once the hour of practice was up, which allowed him to change his focus to getting it right in qualifying for race 1 of the weekend.

Saturday rolled around, with a 25-minute practice session first up to sort out any issues before heading into a three-part knockout style qualifying. After getting through to the final round of qualifying the pressure was on, with Cam Waters, Will Brown and fellow WAU driver Ryan Wood showing serious pace in the closing stages of qualifying. However, it was Chaz and the whole WAU team who finally got that all important 1-2 qualifying result: a front row lock-out! It’s safe to say that no one saw that coming heading into the weekend, but we were all so pleased for Chaz and Ryan.

Saturday afternoon – Race 1. After a great start from Ryan Wood, he took the lead of the race into turn 1, Chaz keeping close behind allowing the two to slip away from the rest of the pack. A couple of laps later Chaz retook the lead into the last corner and kept that lead for the remainder of the race going on to win race 9 of the championship. Teammate Ryan Wood just missed out on the podium on the last corner of the last lap to Tickford Racings Cam Waters, leaving him to settle for 4^th but still delivering a huge points haul for the team.

Finishing off a weekend to remember Chaz put his Ford Mustang on the front row once again with Cam Waters claiming pole position for the final race of the weekend. After a great start Chaz took the lead of the race and managed to hold the lead until pit stops where he was very unlucky to get a 5-second time penalty (added to his time after the race finished) for an unsafe release out of the pitbox into the pitlane. Although he crossed the line first, unfortunately the penalty was enough to result in Chaz just missing out on the win, instead finishing second to Cam Waters.

After a great weekend for the WAU team the focus now shifts to Darwin in mid-June, with the hopes that the quick qualifying and race pace continues to improve throughout the season.

Bring it on!

Read Ella’s previous report on the Bathurst 1000 race. 

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Ella Dingwall is a high school student with dreams of becoming a motorsport journalist.