Prodrive Racing (Australia)’s Chaz Mostert has taken out third overall by one point in the Coates Hire Supercars Challenge at the 2017 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix after winning race four by 10 seconds. Starting from fourth place, Mostert was able to move past Shane van Gisbergen for third before the race leader Fabian Coulthard suffered a puncture. With Coulthard back down the field, Mostert took his chance to move past Whincup and take the lead. Mark Winterbottom, Jason Bright and Cameron Waters all found themselves caught up in the carnage of turn one on the first lap, with Winterbottom pushed to last place. Winterbottom recovered to finish 15th, while Jason Bright carried on with a relatively strong car to finish within the top 10. Forced off the track, the front bar of Waters’ FG X picked up grass between turn one and two resulting in a grass fire in the front of the car. Entering the pits, Waters did not re-join the race.
Mark Winterbottom – #5 The Bottle-O PRA Ford:
Race 4: 15th
“We just got caught at the start, suffered some damage to the steering and it was over from there pretty much. We can’t learn much from a damaged car so there’s nothing we can take from that race really. Not our weekend but there’s a lot that we can take from it overall. Chaz and Brighty seemed to have good cars. It was good to see Chaz up on the podium so we’ll have a look at what they did.”
Cameron Waters – #6 Monster Energy PRA Ford:
Race 4: DNF
“Not our day again today. There was a fair bit of contact at turn one on the first lap, I went off the track, picked up some grass and smoke started coming out of the front of the car so our day was pretty much done from there. By the time they caught the grass fire and got it all cleaned out there wasn’t any point in re-joining. Well done to Chaz, it’s awesome to see one of our cars up on the podium for the weekend.”
Chaz Mostert – #55 Supercheap Auto PRA Ford:
Race 4: 1st
“Really happy with how we ended up today. The crew and my engineer Adam De Borre all did an awesome job to get the car together and working like it did. There are still a few little things that we need to work on but I feel like we have a good direction for the next few events. To get the race win and then third for the weekend is awesome.”
Jason Bright – #56 MEGA Bulk Fuels PRA Ford:
Race 4: 9th
“Turn one didn’t go well for us again today. Suffered damage to the back of the car and to the steering as well. We just went around in circles from there; there wasn’t much I could do. It was really good to finish in the top ten after that start and battle back up there a little bit. We learned a lot about the car again this weekend so hopefully we can go into Tasmania with a strong setup and keep these good results coming.”
Tim Edwards – Team Principal:
“Great racing from Chaz in that last race. He had the speed which was great to see. We have made some great progress with the cars this weekend. Obviously we still have a few things to look at but to have the positives shining through today was fantastic. It was interesting to see a few punctures out there but thankfully none of our cars suffered from one. A good weekend overall but plenty to look at back at the workshop.”
RACE 4
1) Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing
2) Shane van Gisbergen – Triple Eight
3) Tim Slade – Brad Jones Racing
4) Todd Kelly – Nissan Motorsport
5) Michael Caruso – Nissan Motorsport
9) Jason Bright – MEGA Racing
15) Mark Winterbottom – The Bottle-O Racing Team
DNF) Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing
1) Fabian Coulthard – DJR Team Penske: 241
2) Scott McLaughlin – DJR Team Penske: 235
3) Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing: 223
4) Michael Caruso – Nissan Motorsport: 222
5) Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight: 201
9) Mark Winterbottom – The Bottle-O Racing Team: 162
14) Jason Bright – MEGA Racing: 125
17) Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing: 101
