Seven Supercars champions who got away with mid-season wobbles
Chaz Mostert can call himself a Supercars champion, but even he would admit there were times in 2025 that it all looked pretty tough.
Mostert labelled his Bathurst DNF as the turning point of his season, with the Walkinshaw Andretti United star nailing a 1.9 average finish in The Finals.
It was a wobble that could have made or broken driver and team, and Mostert turned it around to achieve his dream.
It had us thinking — what are some recent examples of champions who got away with some heart-stopping moments before they clinched the crown?
Garth Tander
Garth Tander won a whopping 15 races in 2007, yet still only clinched the title in the final race. A high-risk points system saw drivers 16th or lower fail to score, but a poorly timed DNF in Bathurst saw Tander gift the lead to Jamie Whincup. Tander fought back with wins in Surfers Paradise, only for a clash in Tasmania to allow Whincup back into the fight.
Jamie Whincup
Jamie Whincup won seven championships, and remarkably, none of them came easy. After sweeping the 2008 opener in Adelaide, Whincup crashed out of the weekend in Hamilton, New Zealand. He survived a mechanical issue in the 2011 Bathurst 1000 and crash at the final round in Homebush to deny teammate Craig Lowndes. He won in 2012 and 2013 despite being caught up in incidents, and fought back from a 213-point deficit to win in 2014. It was a Saturday crash in the 2017 Newcastle opener, though, that should have prevented No. 7. The next day? Scott McLaughlin fell apart, handing the title to Whincup.
Mark Winterbottom
Mark Winterbottom was on a charge in 2015, winning nine of the first 24 races. He left Bathurst 399 points ahead of his nearest rival, but went winless in the final 12 races as Triple Eight and Jamie Whincup surged back into form. A disastrous Gold Coast 600 kicked off a run of nine races without a podium, but Winterbottom still managed to seal the deal.
Scott McLaughlin
The first of Scott McLaughlin's three championships boiled down to a straight fight with Shane van Gisbergen. McLaughlin led for the balance of the season, but a woeful run at the first ever Tailem Bend event saw a points lead turn into a deficit. McLaughlin clawed back the lead and survived a wild Newcastle finale to exorcise the demons of 2017.
Brodie Kostecki
Brodie Kostecki’s 2023 title was built off supreme consistency, but a clash in the Darwin finale threatened to undo his efforts. Teammate Will Brown took the lead at the next round in Townsville, before Kostecki fired back to form and wasn’t headed from Sydney.
Will Brown
Will Brown was Mr Consistent in 2024, claiming a podium at every round. However, a lap 1 clash with David Reynolds in Townsville was a dark spot that offered Chaz Mostert and Broc Feeney a look-in. Feeney and Mostert fell away in later rounds, helping Brown into a position to clinch the title with a round to spare.
Chaz Mostert
Chaz Mostert did his best work in The Finals, but before that, he was all over the place. He was brilliant at some rounds, and fighting for form at others. He was penalised in Melbourne and Tasmania, struggled in Darwin, and was undone by a formation lap issue in Ipswich. The biggest flop was an engine failure in Bathurst, which sparked a title-winning run of form in The Finals. A final day disaster for Broc Feeney allowed Mostert a free swing, and he duly finished second to take out the title.
