Chaz Mostert has thrown down the gauntlet in the chase for the 2026 Supercars crown after taking his third straight win in the opening race at Sandown Park near Melbourne.
The Walkinshaw Andretti United took the lead at the first corner and thereafter was headed only by his team-mate Ryan Wood, who virtually waved him past and later played the role of tailgunner.
Already eliminated from title contention under Supercars’ new Finals system, Wood started from pole position and it looked like the WAU Ford Mustangs would motor home to make it a 1-2.
But not many were counting on Will Brown. The Triple Eight man made a real mess in qualifying, rolling the dice with a single qualifying run and then watching in horror as a safe position inside the top 10 dropped like a stock market crash, leaving his Chevrolet Camaro 15th on the grid.
Nevertheless, Brown made a steady start and then lit up the track, taking spot after spot and gaining around six seconds on the leaders in his opening stint. He kept going in the second stint, moving from the edge of the top 10 to sixth, and then set after the Fords of Kai Allen and Matt Payne (Grove Racing) and Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing) to take fourth, having gained 11 places.
Next up was team-mate and points leader Broc Feeney, who watched Brown blast past him with 13 laps to go, and then the current Supercars Champion chased down the two leaders.
Walkinshaw Andretti United pair Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood had dominated the 81-lap race, seemingly cruising around at the front in a pair after starting from the front row in their Ford Mustangs. But Brown plotted a way around Wood with four laps to go and sped away, though Mostert was 4s clear and out of reach.
“I owe Woody a beer tonight, he saved my bacon out there,” he said after his third straight win.
“Today was a bit of a gift. Looking forward to coming back and getting on the other [soft] tyre tomorrow.
“I saw Broc coming and I was just keeping and eye on his times. Then Will was doing 10-lows and I thought, ‘why is he going that fast?’ An incredible race from Will, but we’ll take it and move on.”
Brown was pleased after his charge to second.
“In that fast sting, I knew we had something pretty good.
“It was like Maverick and Goose up there, Woody was like a wingman. I knew it was going to be hard to get up there. We hit quite hard over there [at Turn 4 where he overtook Wood] and I got the guy to check the tyres but they said, it was all good.”
Wood admitted his role was a defensive one.
“To get him into the final four is such a relief for all of us and that was our job for today,” he said.
“I probably over-defended to try to get Chaz a gap. I needed to get him the win there.”
In fourth place came Feeney ahead of three Fords, Kostecki (DJR) and the Grove Racing entries of Payne and Allen.
It was a tough Saturday for Tickford Racing, which brought its two drivers into the weekend in title contention. Cam Waters started ninth and finished 12th but qualifying was a disaster for team-mate Thomas Randle. He rolled the dice on making a single qualifying run and the result was 22nd on the grid. From there, the best he could hope for was a race of attrition or bad weather, but neither ever arrived and he came home in 16th position.
With the win Mostert is now seeded as one of the four drivers to advance to the final round in Adelaide as a Finals contender. At the same time, he actually took over the points lead on 4270 points, three ahead of Feeney and 66 clear of Brown. Payne is fourth ahead of Allen, while Waters and Randle have a lot of ground to make up in Sunday’s second 81-lap race.
The Supercars will be back on track at Sandown at 11:40am for two qualifying sessions before a Top 10 Shoot Out at 12:10pm. The 250km race is due to start at 3:20pm (all Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time).
RACE1
| Cla | Driver | Car | Laps | Time | Interval | Retirement | Points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  C. Mostert Mobil 1 Optus Racing |
Ford Mustang S650 | 81 |
- |
|||||||
| 2 | W. Brown Red Bull Ampol Racing |
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 81 |
+3.835 3.8346 |
3.835 | ||||||
| 3 |
R. Wood Mobil 1 Truck Assist Racing
|
Ford Mustang S650 | 81 |
+4.519 4.5186 |
0.684 | ||||||
| 4 |
B. Feeney Red Bull Ampol Racing
|
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 81 |
+6.273 6.2728 |
1.754 | ||||||
| 5 |
B. Kostecki Dick Johnson Racing
|
Ford Mustang S650 | 81 |
+13.787 13.7873 |
7.515 | ||||||
| 6 |
M. Payne Penrite Racing
|
Ford Mustang S650 | 81 |
+15.534 15.5337 |
1.746 | ||||||
| 7 |
K. Allen Penrite Racing
|
Ford Mustang S650 | 81 |
+15.966 15.9656 |
0.432 | ||||||
| 8 | A. De Pasquale DEWALT Racing |
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 81 |
+18.372 18.3724 |
2.407 | ||||||
| 9 | B. Fullwood Middy's Racing |
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 81 |
+18.708 18.7075 |
0.335 | ||||||
| 10 | J. Golding PremiAir Nulon Racing |
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 81 |
+25.284 25.2836 |
6.576 | ||||||
| 11 | W. Davison Dick Johnson Racing |
Ford Mustang S650 | 81 |
+28.276 28.2758 |
2.992 | ||||||
| 12 | C. Waters Monster Castrol Racing |
Ford Mustang S650 | 81 |
+29.913 29.9128 |
1.637 | ||||||
| 13 | J. Courtney Snowy River Racing |
Ford Mustang S650 | 81 |
+34.475 34.4747 |
4.562 | ||||||
| 14 |
C. Murray Erebus Motorsport Penrite
|
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 81 |
+34.741 34.7408 |
0.266 | ||||||
| 15 |
C. Hill Tyrepower Racing
|
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 81 |
+36.746 36.7464 |
2.006 | ||||||
| 16 | T. Randle Monster Castrol Racing |
Ford Mustang S650 | 81 |
+39.258 39.2579 |
2.512 | ||||||
| 17 |  A. Heimgartner R&J Batteries Racing |
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 81 |
+41.363 41.3628 |
2.105 | ||||||
| 18 | M. Jones Pizza Hut Racing |
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 81 |
+45.417 45.4168 |
4.054 | ||||||
| 19 | D. Reynolds Tradie Beer Racing |
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 81 |
+47.636 47.6357 |
2.219 | ||||||
| 20 |
J. Ojeda PremiAir Nulon Racing
|
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 81 |
+49.925 49.9254 |
2.290 | ||||||
| 21 | J. Evans SCT Motorsport |
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 81 |
+53.188 53.1877 |
3.262 | ||||||
| 22 |
A. Cameron Brad Jones Racing
|
Ford Mustang S650 | 81 |
+1'00.008 1'00.0080 |
6.820 | ||||||
| 23 | N. Percat Bendix Racing |
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 81 |
+1'10.443 1'10.4433 |
10.435 | ||||||
| 24 | J. Le Brocq Erebus Motorsport Penrite |
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Gen3 | 67 |
14 laps |
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| View full results | |||||||||||
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