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Andrew van Leeuwen

Supercars Darwin: Mostert wins thrilling finale fending off De Pasquale

De Pasquale got the jump on Will Davison from the outside of the front row at the start to bank track position for the opening stint.

The two Shell Fords then ran in formation with a little under a second separating them.

Behind them it was initially Cam Waters who sat in third, however the Tickford driver was passed by Shane van Gisbergen at Turn 6 on lap 17.

On lap 19 De Pasquale pitted from the lead, however he didn't resume in the effective lead. That instead went to Chaz Mostert, who had pitted 10 laps earlier for just two new tyres and pulled off a massive undercut to go from sixth to the lead.

Mostert's gamble looked to have hit a serious snag on lap 26 when Garry Jacobson and Zak Best tangled and Best ended up in the wall on the outside of Turn 6.

The resulting safety car should have left Mostert as a sitting duck, with De Pasquale and his three new tyres, and Will Davison on four new tyres taken on lap 23, right behind him.

Davison was best-placed for the lap 31 restart based on tyre condition, however the veteran was slow away when the race went green.

That let van Gisbergen get under him into Turn 1, the pair making contact as Davison was escorted wide.

Davison slipped back to fifth while van Gisbergen picked up damage and dropped all the way back to 21st. He was also slapped with a 15-second penalty for his efforts, which meant the series leader was classified dead last.

That left De Pasquale as the sole challenger to Mostert and his ailing rubber, but try as De Pasquale might there was no way through, as the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver held on for a famous win.

"There's no worse mentality than going into a safety car knowing everyone has fresher tyres than you," said Mostert. "Not just two, but four.

"Ripper effort by the team, we went super aggressive. The [car] somehow just hung on. I kept Anton just at bay, I had nothing left."

The win comes amid what's been a difficult weekend for WAU and Mostert, who was disqualified from two sessions, one of which was yesterday's opening race.

De Pasquale's aggressive measures to try and get through Mostert late in the race saw Cam Waters almost sneak through for second.

The two Ford drivers ended up drag racing to the finish line, De Pasquale just holding on ahead of his Tickford rival.

Given van Gisbergen's woes, the second place has helped De Pasquale close the points gap to the Kiwi to 214.

Davison finished fourth ahead of a fast-finishing Andre Heimgartner, Broc Feeney and Will Brown.

Jake Kostecki was eighth, Mark Winterbottom ninth and Nick Percat 10th in the second WAU entry.

James Courtney was a surprise appearance on the grid after his Mustang was badly damaged in Sunday's earlier race.

The Tickford Racing crew put in a rapid shift between races to repair the car, only for it to cop more bonnet damage early in this race. Still he was able to come home 19th.

Scott Pye's car, which was also damaged in the Courtney crash, unfortunately couldn't be repaired in time to take part in the race.

Cam Waters, Tickford Ford leads Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden (Photo by: Edge Photographics)

Waters wins crash-marred Race 2 at Darwin

Cam Waters held off Will Davison to win a Supercars race marred by a nasty early crash for James Courtney.

The race was only green at the start for a number of corners before it was neutralised following a frightening crash for James Courtney.

The Tickford driver looked to be fired off the road on the exit of Turn 5 before bouncing across the infield and collecting a number of cars on the other side, including Scott Pye and team-mate Thomas Randle.

The impact effectively took all three drivers out on the spot and led to the race being red-flagged after a handful of laps behind the safety car.

After a lengthy clean up the race was restarted behind the safety car before finally going green again on lap 5.

At that point polesitter Waters was leading Davison, David Reynolds and Shane van Gisbergen at the head of the queue.

Those four held formation across the first stint before van Gisbergen kicked off the stops for the front-runners by taking on two new tyres on lap 17.

Waters and Davison responded on the next lap, resuming in what was effectively first and second, while Reynolds opted for an overcut and stayed out.

As the stops shook out Waters and Davison ended up in their own battle for the lead, little to separate the pair across the second stint.

But as tense as it was there was no way through for Davison, Waters holding on for victory.

Van Gisbergen backed off in the second stint to hold up Anton De Pasquale in fourth, the Kiwi never confident that he could fight the top two cars and instead looking to consolidate third.

Reynolds, meanwhile, gambled on a four-tyre stop on lap 22 which dropped him to ninth for the run home, and with his superior grip he was able to make decent headway, but fifth was the best he could manage by the finish.

Jack Le Brocq moved forward from eighth on the grid to sixth at the finish ahead of Mark Winterbottom, Chaz Mostert, Andre Heimgartner and Nick Percat.

Supercars Darwin - Race 3 results

Cla # Driver Car Time Gap Interval
1 25 Australia Chaz Mostert Holden Commodore ZB -    
2 11 Australia Anton De Pasquale Ford Mustang GT 0.9580 0.958 0.958
3 6 Australia Cameron Waters Ford Mustang GT 1.1035 1.104 0.146
4 17 Australia Will Davison Ford Mustang GT 1.4933 1.493 0.390
5 8 New Zealand Andre Heimgartner Holden Commodore ZB 3.3056 3.306 1.812
6 88 Broc Feeney Holden Commodore ZB 3.3158 3.316 0.010
7 9 Australia Will Brown Holden Commodore ZB 8.8692 8.869 5.553
8 56 Australia Jake Kostecki Ford Mustang GT 9.0464 9.046 0.177
9 18 Australia Mark Winterbottom Holden Commodore ZB 9.2514 9.251 0.205
10 2 Australia Nick Percat Holden Commodore ZB 9.3879 9.388 0.137
11 3 Australia Tim Slade Ford Mustang GT 9.6175 9.618 0.230
12 26 Australia David Reynolds Ford Mustang GT 11.3049 11.305 1.687
13 34 Australia Jack Le Brocq Holden Commodore ZB 11.4972 11.497 0.192
14 14 Australia Bryce Fullwood Holden Commodore ZB 11.6735 11.674 0.176
15 55 Australia Thomas Randle Ford Mustang GT 12.1206 12.121 0.447
16 10 Australia Lee Holdsworth Ford Mustang GT 12.6078 12.608 0.487
17 4 Australia Jack Smith Holden Commodore ZB 15.7478 15.748 3.140
18 96 Australia Macauley Jones Holden Commodore ZB 15.9186 15.919 0.171
19 5 Australia James Courtney Ford Mustang GT 16.6211 16.621 0.702
20 22 New Zealand Chris Pither Holden Commodore ZB 19.0477 19.048 2.427
21 97 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen Holden Commodore ZB 40.0360 40.036 20.988
22 76 Australia Garry Jacobson Holden Commodore ZB 43.0405 43.041 3.005
23 35 Australia Todd Hazelwood Holden Commodore ZB 1 lap    
24 99 Brodie Kostecki Holden Commodore ZB 1 lap    
  27 Jayden Ojeda Holden Commodore ZB 13 laps    
  78 Zak Best Ford Mustang GT      
  20 Australia Scott Pye Holden Commodore ZB      

Supercars Darwin - Race 2 results

Cla Driver Car Laps Gap Interval
1 Australia Cameron Waters Ford Mustang GT 37    
2 Australia Will Davison Ford Mustang GT 37 0.6169 0.6169
3 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen Holden Commodore ZB 37 1.8496 1.2327
4 Australia Anton De Pasquale Ford Mustang GT 37 2.7475 0.8979
5 Australia David Reynolds Ford Mustang GT 37 3.6527 0.9052
6 Australia Jack Le Brocq Holden Commodore ZB 37 10.5375 6.8848
7 Australia Mark Winterbottom Holden Commodore ZB 37 11.0661 0.5286
8 Australia Chaz Mostert Holden Commodore ZB 37 12.2347 1.1686
9 New Zealand Andre Heimgartner Holden Commodore ZB 37 12.6210 0.3863
10 Australia Nick Percat Holden Commodore ZB 37 17.3743 4.7533
11 Australia Jake Kostecki Ford Mustang GT 37 23.0573 5.6830
12 Australia Lee Holdsworth Ford Mustang GT 37 26.9676 3.9103
13 Broc Feeney Holden Commodore ZB 37 27.5196 0.5520
14 Australia Tim Slade Ford Mustang GT 37 28.0681 0.5485
15 Australia Bryce Fullwood Holden Commodore ZB 37 28.4083 0.3402
16 Brodie Kostecki Holden Commodore ZB 37 29.2098 0.8015
17 Australia Macauley Jones Holden Commodore ZB 37 31.0501 1.8403
18 Australia Garry Jacobson Holden Commodore ZB 37 31.9186 0.8685
19 Australia Jack Smith Holden Commodore ZB 37 32.3231 0.4045
20 Australia Will Brown Holden Commodore ZB 37 33.4636 1.1405
21 Zak Best Ford Mustang GT 37 35.2869 1.8233
22 New Zealand Chris Pither Holden Commodore ZB 37 39.4494 4.1625
23 Jayden Ojeda Holden Commodore ZB 37 43.1430 3.6936
24 Australia Todd Hazelwood Holden Commodore ZB 29 8 Laps 8 Laps
  Australia Thomas Randle Ford Mustang GT 6 31 Laps 23 Laps
  Australia James Courtney Ford Mustang GT 0    
  Australia Scott Pye Holden Commodore ZB 0    
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