Mostert completes a hat trick in TCR Australia at Bathurst
Chaz Mostert ended the TCR Australia weekend at Mount Panorama with another victory, completing an impressive hat trick. Just like in yesterday’s races 1 and 2, Aaron Cameron led in the early stages, but Mostert managed to pass him and score another win. Jordan Cox completed the podium in third position.
With this result, Mostert has further stretched his leadership in the standings to 63 points ahead of Cameron who has moved ahead of Luke King. Lee Holdsworth retired and so dropped from second to fifth, behind John Martin.
For the third time in the weekend, Cameron’s Peugeot started better than Mostert’s Audi on pole position and led the field, while Cox jumped from P4 on the grid to third ahead of Garth Tander. During the first lap Holdsworth’s Alfa Romeo that was running in eighth position stopped on the track in a cloud of smoke and the safety car was deployed.
When racing resumed in lap 5, Tony D’Alberto’s Honda Civic made contact with the sister car of Michael Clemente at Turn 1 and got stranded onto the gravel trap, which prompted the safety car back into action.
At the restart in lap 7, Cameron was closely chased by Mostert and Cox; Ben Bargwanna lost control of his Paugeot, skidded on the grass and rejoined dropping from eighth to 17th.
At the beginning of lap 8, Mostert passed Cameron into Turn 1; the three leaders ran in the final lap one behind the other, covered by one second, but in the second part of the track Mostert built a small margin and claimed his third win of the weekend, while Cameron beat Cox on the line for second by two hundredths. Tander successfully defended the fourth position from Martin, while James Moffat and Brad Shiels followed in sixth and seventh positions.
The championship will resume at Sydney Motorsport Park, on 1/2 May.
Bathurst – Race 3
1. Chaz Mostert (Melbourne Performance Centre, Audi RS 3 LMS), 9 laps
2. Aaron Cameron (Team Valvoline GRM, Peugeot 308) 1.4316
3. Jordan Cox (Garry Rogers Motorsport, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce), 1.4558
4. Garth Tander (Melbourne Performance Centre, Audi RS 3 LMS), 3.3410
5. John Martin (Wall Racing, Honda Civic Type R FK7), 3.8381
Championship points
1. Chaz Mostert 344 pts; 2. Aaron Cameron 281; 3. Luke King 266
Picture: TCR Australia
