Mostert lauds Wood's 'sacrifice', vows to repay favour

Chaz Mostert might have continued his perfect Repco Supercars Finals Series yesterday at Sandown, however he was quick to declare Walkinshaw Andretti United teammate Ryan Wood as the man of the match.

The Kiwi once again got the upper hand over Mostert in qualifying, heading a WAU front row lockout to claim his third pole of the season.

With Wood knocked out of the title race on the Gold Coast, he had made his intentions known as soon as the chequered flag fell on the Sunday that he would do what it took to assist Mostert in claiming his first championship.

Sure enough, when Mostert edged ahead off the start, Wood eased off the throttle to allow the #25 Mustang into the lead. However, it soon became apparent that the #2 Mustang had pace to burn.

However, Wood played the team game and held fire, allowing Mostert back through after he undercut on the first stop, with the time looking like they would romp to a 1-2 finish.

However, that was until Will Brown came storming into contention in the final stint, the defending Sandown 500 winner charging from 15th on the grid.

Wood had made his intentions to help Mostert known as soon as he was knocked out of title contention on the Gold Coast, and he delivered in spades in the final laps, as Brown threatened to steal an improbable win.

By the time Brown had muscled past on lap 78 of 81, what had been a one second gap had blown out to four and a half seconds. Mostert was home and hosed.

Wood was dubbed the 'New Zealand Minister of Defence' in a WAU social media post following the race, with Mostert reiterating several times that his battle with the reigning champion was the difference.

Per Supercars data analyst Scott Sinclair, Brown’s race pace (fastest 30% laps) of 1:10.24s was 0.2s/lap quicker than next-best Mostert.

"The pace Will Brown showed there at the end was just unbelievable, the numbers I was being told through my ear, there was no way we were capable of doing that," Mostert said on broadcast post-race.

"The drive of the day goes to Will with how fast he was, but the racecraft of the day goes to Woody 100%. I wouldn't be on this winner's podium without him.

"He sacrificed himself a bit. He was faster than me today, I just didn't quite have the balance to go with him and look after the tyre as good as what Woody did.

"I'm just grateful to hang on... it's a real team spirit at the moment that's really getting us through."

With his bp Adelaide Grand Final berth locked in, Mostert now has a free kick this afternoon, though will be eager to hold the championship lead.

However, given Wood's remarkable efforts yesterday, could Mostert repay Wood if such a situation arises tomorrow? It's something the two-time Bathurst winner certainly didn't dismiss.

"I've just seen [Wood] defend [Brown] pretty good, so if [Brown] is coming at me with the same pace again tomorrow," Mostert said.

"If he thought the young buck was hard to get past, we'll see how he goes when he tries to come up against a bit of experience.

"I thought he did the best job I've ever seen, but now I've got to just dig deeper."