Mostert reacts to rollercoaster Taupō weekend

Chaz Mostert races to seventh in Taupō finale
Mostert 22nd on Saturday after losing wheel in wet race
WAU star now 196 points behind leader Will Brown

From topping practice, fighting for wins and losing wheels, Chaz Mostert encountered it all at Taupō, with the new father keen to return home to his young family.

Mostert began the weekend 97 points adrift of championship leader Will Brown, and sent a warning sign to his rivals with the fastest time on Friday.

Come Saturday, and Mostert fought for the lead, only for a wheel to come loose and ruin his charge and drop him to 142 points behind Brown.

Walkinshaw Andretti United was later penalised teams’ championship points and fined over the incident, with Mostert ninth in Sunday’s Shootout.

The two-time Bathurst winner’s Sunday race was an up-and-down affair, with Mostert dropping from ninth to 17th before fighting back through the field.

After racing into the top five, a tough final stint saw Mostert ultimately finish seventh, with Brown winning and race and moving 196 points clear.

When asked if Taupō was the one that got away, Mostert replied: "Yesterday definitely did in the wet weather, but today we just didn't quite have the pace.

"So, we'll go back to the drawing board a little bit. We were quite speedy in the first two stints in the race, nothing like the front two boys, but definitely thought we were on for a top five.

“But just that last stint, the car got away from us a little bit. So, we went pretty aggressive on the strategy, because we thought we were going alright, but just struggled with tyre on that last one."

Mostert was excited to return home to partner Riarne and newborn daughter Everly, who arrived following the Melbourne SuperSprint.

The Supercars grid’s newest dad said his daughter has helped add to his “little support circle” and make him aware of his “fine balance” in life.

“It's a very competitive sport where there's plenty of ups and downs throughout your career, and sometimes you need a good support circle,” he said.

“So, I just added another member to my little support circle back home. Doesn't give me much advice except for screaming at me — and I hope that means I love you.

"But, I'm just excited to get back home tomorrow. I've been away for the last two weeks. Ri's been doing the solo parenting and lucky her mum's there helping her out.

"I'm pretty excited to get back home, recover for a few weeks and then start looking eyes forward to the next one."

The 2024 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint on May 17-19. Tickets are on sale now.