Mostert strikes back
After a tough Taupo opener, Chaz Mostert overcame a dogfight with Brodie Kostecki to emphatically notch up a first win of 2025.
Mostert controlled the majority of Race 9 of the 2025 Supercars Championship and claimed what turned out to be a comfortable 6s win ahead of the Dick Johnson Racing teammates.
However, that does not tell the full story of the first race with the new Super Soft tyre with Mostert and Kostecki going at it.
The pair went blow for blow and traded the lead with some door-banging action either side of the pit stop window.
But the knockout blow was made by Mostert on Lap 21 and he did not look back, while Will Davison ended up securing second, his first podium in a year, ahead of Kostecki, who still walked away with his first piece of DJR silverware.
Matt Payne made solid ground to back up his Race 8 win with a fourth place, while Broc Feeney waved the Camaro flag to be fifth.
Will Brown also fought hard to be seventh, which was enough to reclaim the Sprint Cup lead as Cameron Waters slumped from sixth to 14th.
For the second time today and first time in the Super Soft tyre there went racing under the Taupo sunshine.
Kostecki could not convert his first DJR pole and got swamped by not only fellow front row starter Mostert, but also Feeney, who found the grass on the inside.
Feeney tried hard to snare second, but Kostecki got his elbows out over the following corners to retain the position as Brown and Davison rounded out the top five.
Randle had the best launch of them all and blazed his way down the middle of the road to gain three spots to sit seventh, while Payne suffered a 5s penalty for a jump start.
Murray found himself rotating for the third time in the day, this time after a clash with Reynolds at Turn 7, but fortunately this time the Team 18 veteran straightened him up.
It took Mostert four laps to skip a second up the road and that gap continued to grow as attention turned to tyre life with the field a lot less frantic as the opener.
As the stint went on it became apparent Brown was struggling with car balance and was dropped from the top five and a gaggle of cars formed behind.
It did not take long for Brown to get eaten alive and he lost six spots within a lap before being the first to pit on Lap 15.
The big winner of the battle was a driver not even involved in Payne, who pushed 6s clear of the pack, which importantly meant he would be unaffected by the penalty.
By Lap 16 it was Feeney’s turn to battle on the tyres as both Davison and Payne eased past the #88.
Mostert had grown his lead to beyond 3s, but by Lap 18 he used up his rubber and that advantage had disappeared.
Kostecki did not wait to launch his attack and made a successful divebomb at Turn 5.
After some door-rubbing the DJR driver made it stick, only for the pair to follow each other into the lane at the end of the lap.
It was not without drama however as Kostecki was lucky to escape a whack with the tyre barrier at pit entry.
Having entered the pit boom on an awkward angle, WAU had to release Mostert behind the #38, but the battle was far from over.
The #25 had the lights on and wasted no time in launching a counterattack.
Mostert threw his car down the inside at Turn 4 and barged his way back into the lead after significant contact into Kostecki’s driver’s door.
De Pasquale’s hopes of extending his run of top 10s came to a devastating end when a pit drama saw Team 18 release him without changing the front right down in 18th.
The battle for the lead reignited just three laps later when Kostecki replied with a clean move at the same corner.
However, the DJR driver undid his good work by carrying too much speed and finding the grass at corner exit.
This opened the door for Mostert to fight back at the following corner and he walked straight through and gave the DJR driver another shove for good measure.
After Kostecki found the dirt in two consecutive corners, he had to regather his thoughts after dropping 1.7s adrift.
This continued to grow as Kostecki battled apparent steering dramas and could not stop both Feeney and Davison from knocking him off the podium with seven laps to go.
All eyes turned to the #88 and #17 as they ran nose to tail in an arm wrestle for second across the final five laps.
Davison even hit the rear of Feeney at the start of Lap 33, but this saw him lose some ground.
Two laps later the #17 was back and this time a successful move was made at the fast Turn 9.
Now Kostecki was back in the game and he applied the pressure at the start of the penultimate lap, which led to Feeney going off at Turn 4 and sacrificing the podium place.
This brought Feeney into the clutches of Payne, who cruised past down the back straight.
These were the final blows in a frantic affair of tyre saving and hard racing.
Results Race 9 37 laps Taupo
Pos Driver Team Laps Margin
1 Chaz Mostert WAU 37 56.14 +1
2 Will Davison DJR 37 +6.4763 +2
3 Brodie Kostecki DJR 37 +9.1911 -2
4 Matt Payne Grove Racing 37 +9.8175 +3
5 Broc Feeney Triple Eight 37 +11.6992 -2
6 Thomas Randle Tickford 37 +21.5258 +4
7 Will Brown Triple Eight 37 +24.5610 -2
8 Andre Heimgartner BJR 37 +24.9493 +3
9 Ryan Wood WAU 37 +28.9820 -3
10 Kai Allen Grove Racing 37 +29.1790 -2
11 Jack Le Brocq Erebus 37 +31.7514 +3
12 Bryce Fullwood BJR 37 +35.0143 +4
13 Cameron Hill MSR 37 +35.9052 +4
14 Cameron Waters Tickford 37 +39.9708 -8
15 Nick Percat MSR 37 +41.9549 +6
16 Macauley Jones BJR 37 +42.3421 +2
17 David Reynolds Team 18 37 +43.3933 +3
18 James Golding PremiAir 37 +44.1821 +4
19 Jaxon Evans BJR 37 +44.6837 –
20 Anton De Pasquale Team 18 37 +47.9129 -11
21 Richie Stanaway PremiAir 37 +50.7171 -8
22 James Courtney BRT 37 +1:02.1283 +2
23 Cooper Murray Erebus 37 +1:02.4252 -8
24 Aaron Cameron BRT 37 +1:09.0624 -1
Image: WAU/RACE PROJECT
Taupo Super440
Practice 1 – 1: A. Heimgartner 1:26.8830 2: Anton De Pasquale +0.0258 3: Matt Payne +0.0830
Practice 2 – 1: Ryan Wood 1:25.9778; 2: Brodie Kostecki +0.0435; 3: Thomas Randle +0.0838
Race 8 Qualifying – 1 Matt Payne 1:25.7006; 2 Brodie Kostecki +0.0705; 3 Cameron Waters +0.1646
Race 9 Qualifying: 1 Brodie Kostecki 1:26.3482; 2 Chaz Mostert +0.0712; 3 Broc Feeney +0.1939
Race 8 (37 laps) 1 Matt Payne 2 Cameron Waters 3 Ryan Wood
Sat 14.05: Supercars Race 9 (37 laps)
Sun 8.35-9.05: Supercars Race 10 Qualifying
Sun 10.50-11.35: Supercars Race 10 Top 10 Shootout
Sun 13.05: Supercars Race 10 (61 laps)
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