Mostert’s blunt assessment of Sandown survival mission
Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth seventh in Sandown 500
Holdsworth spun out of fourth, damaged car early on
WAU Team Principal labels race execution "diabolical"
“We just didn't want it enough today.”
That was Chaz Mostert’s blunt assessment of what proved a Sandown rollercoaster, with the fancied Walkinshaw Andretti United pairing coming home seventh amid a "diabolical" race for the team.
On the result sheets, Mostert and Lee Holdsworth ended up just 4.5s from victory at Sandown after a dramatic race, which was won by Will Brown and Scott Pye.
However, seventh could easily have been a podium — or better — for the #25 Ford, which was sent into a spectacular spin by Holdsworth exiting Turn 1 on lap 42.
The spin tore part of the right-hand side sill panel off the car, with a shattered Holdsworth saying afterwards: “That was horrible. I just feel terrible for the team. It was a shocking mistake."
Mostert later made a green flag pit stop, before ending up seventh. Speaking after the race, he said: "I was probably pretty lucky to be honest.
"I kind of wanted to pit there at the end, but bit of confusion for us, so I ended up staying out, and then, it obviously went time certain, so I survived on a bit of a slightly older tyre than the guys around us.
"Our car was really fast in clean air, but today just wasn't our day. Just too many mistakes, and we just didn't want it enough today.
“If this one stings, it gets us very motivated for the next one [Bathurst] and we'll look forward to that.”
Heading to Bathurst, Mostert's deficit to Brown has blown out from 81 to 189 points.
WAU Team Principal Carl Faux was scathing of the team's performance, with Ryan Wood/Fabian Coulthard 15th after being hit with a five-second penalty over an unsafe release amid a race of incidents.
“Having both cars in the Top Ten Shootout is something to be happy about but we made too many mistakes in the race," said Faux, whose team also lost second in the teams' standings to Tickford Racing.
“Seventh place was more than we deserved. We just weren’t good enough. The pace is there but the execution was diabolical in every area. It’s a bitter pill to swallow and we must learn from it.
“Everyone will be in the workshop at 8.30am on Monday for a full reset. We’ll now look forward to one of our strengths, which is racing at Mount Panorama.”
