Chaz Mostert won the final race of the Syndey Super Sprint at Syndey Motorsport Park romping home to defeat Brad Jones Racing’s Fabian Coulthard and Jason Bright.
Starting under cloudy skies pole sitter Scott McLaughlin ran side-by-side with second place starter David Reynolds on the run down to turn two. McLaughlin prevailed leading the opening lap before a safety car a lap later for his stranded teammate, David Wall, who had made contact with Todd Kelly at the penultimate corner.
Pit stop strategy proved to be a deciding factor in the race ultimately, Scott McLaughlin dropping several places under safety car as a fuelling issue slowed their stop.
As the safety car returned to the pit lane Chaz Mostert lead the way from team mate David Reynolds. Holden Racing Team sub Jack Perkins and Erebus Motorsport driver Ash Walsh vaulted up the field to be third and fourth respectively having made a pit stop on the opening lap before the caution.
Restarting sixth McLaughlin swiftly moved past Shane van Gisbergen at turn two. As McLaughlin bolted away, the Tekno Autosport driver held up a gaggle of cars behind including reigning champion Jamie Whincup and a host of others on the soft compound tyre.
A flurry of pit stops saw the two Red Bull Racing Commodores running line astern, Kiwi van Gisbergen pitting shortly after to slot in behind.
The earlier predicted rain doused the circuit on lap twenty five, those who had just pitted forced to enter pit lane again for wet tyres.
The safety car was brought out as Dale Wood got caught out by the sudden downpour, the GB Galvanizing driver went off the track at the high speed turn one. Super Black Racings Andre Heimgartner followed suit, however the young New Zealander managed to rejoin unscathed.
Having moved his way up to the front of the field, Ash Walsh immediately dropped down the field on the wet restart as he was hung out to dry on the exit of turn one.
A brief battle between McLaughlin, Reynolds and Bright saw McLaughlin lead the trio before running wide at the exit of turn five to hand Reynolds and Bright the advantage – Bright up to second at the halfway stage.
It soon became apparent Coulthard and Bright had the better pace of the front runners. Coulthard had no sooner displaced Reynolds for fourth, Reynolds eventually dropping to sixth behind McLaughlin, then passing his team mate soon after.
Praised for his efforts in the wet conditions in the past, Shane van Gisbergen was quickly moving his way through the field passing both Tim Slade and Jack Perkins in the space of two turns and had then moved past Reynolds and McLaughlin.
Van Gisbergen was quickly challenging Bright for third place hounding the rear of the BOC Commodore. Drama unfolded in the dying stages of the race as van Gisbergen dived down the inside of Bright on the entry to turn four sending Bright into a spin. Bright returned to the foray in third having short cut the circuit.
At the front of the field Mostert streaked away ahead of Coulthard to take another win in the series. After a poor outing for Mark Winterbottom the gap between the teammates shrunk to 174 point.
The V8 Supercar Championship now moves into the endurance portion of the calendar in three weeks time for the Sandown 500.