WAU's Finals focus in strong Sydney start
Chaz Mostert third in points after claiming two podiums in Sydney
Ryan Wood also showed impressive one lap pace, but couldn't make the most of it
WAU prioritising end of season performance for first-ever running of The Finals
On the surface, Walkinshaw Andretti United's haul of two podiums out of last weekend's Thrifty Sydney 500 - Opening Round represented a backwards step from last year's Sydney SuperNight.
Last year Chaz Mostert was the man to beat at Sydney Motorsport Park, claiming a clean sweep of both 200km races as he continued his mid-season surge into championship contention
Fast forward seven months, and Mostert was once again one of the frontrunners for the first three races of the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship, but didn't have the pace he had in 2024.
Whilst former teammate Cam Waters dominated, becoming only the second driver to claim a perfect 315-point weekend in Supercars history, Mostert claimed two podiums and a fourth in the three races to walk away third in the standings.
It could've been more for Mostert however, after a mistake in Sunday's Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout saw him start 10th, before recovering brilliantly to finish third, displaying strong pace.
Mostert's teammate Ryan Wood also showed promising signs over the weekend, recording two qualifying efforts of seventh, but couldn't convert in the races with a best finish of 11th.
It's a vastly improved opening round year-on-year for the 21-year-old Kiwi, who left last year's Bathurst 500 with zero points against his name after getting tangled up in two first lap incidents.
WAU Team Principal Carl Faux was encouraged by the team's opening account for 2025, and says that the team will be continuing to experiment with set ups throughout the Repco Sprint Cup to optimise their Finals run.
“Chaz drove well to finish the weekend with a pair of podiums and Ryan Wood is 10 places up on where he was at this time last year," said Faux.
“It’s a different championship this year. You’ve just got to stay in the Top 10 and make sure you have a fast car for the end of the season.
“That means we’re exploring things differently than we would have last year. We can take more risks."
“We’re allowing ourselves the freedom to look for things that will make us the fastest at the end of the year. We’ve found some things that might not work at SMP but will definitely work at other places.”
Mostert also took the positives out of the weekend, saying that the team made progress from Wednesday's Destination NSW Sydney Test Day right through the Race 3 on Sunday.
"For us it was a lot of data from Wednesday to today, through this weekend, trying the car in different configurations to get a good base for later in the year," said Mostert in Sunday's press conference.
"I think we got some good things there, we just didn't package it all right together this weekend."
One of the Finals events that could be a key focus for WAU is the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 in November, which has proven to be a bogey track for the team in the Gen3 era.
The cutthroat nature of the Finals means teams and drivers alike can not afford to have poor weekends, with WAU especially keen on finishing their Ford tenure on a high before making their high-profile switch to Toyota in 2026.
The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Melbourne SuperSprint, which will feature at the Formula 1 Louis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix 2025 on March 13-16.
