WALKINSHAW Andretti United knew Chaz Mostert was the real deal when it lured him from Tickford Racing to be its new centrepiece starting from 2020.
But only did it realise just how good Mostert is, ironically, when he made a mistake during his first round with the Clayton squad at the 2020 Adelaide 500.
WAU team principal Carl Faux recalled as much when explaining why Mostert is one of the very best drivers he’s worked with around the world.
“What makes any driver so good? They do things in the car that you don’t know how they do,” Faux told V8 Sleuth.
“It’s like, ‘I’m not sure how you managed to get away with that’ or ‘I don’t know how you managed to recover from that’.
“I think the biggest thing was the first round he did with us in Adelaide and his exit through Turn 4… it’s braking and it’s bumpy into Turn 4 and you tend to get a bit of lock-up and a bit of oversteer on the way in.
“His entry approach to that corner in qualifying, it looked like he made a mistake.
“He did make a mistake, but he didn’t lose any time by getting off the corner.
“He turned what was a negative back here into a positive over there, and the net was zero.
“Most drivers who would make that mistake would have lost on the other side. So it was like, ‘okay, he’s good’.”
Faux, who tasted plenty of success in the British Touring Car Championship, elaborated of Mostert as an elite talent: “He is right up there, he absolutely is.
“I reckon in my career I could probably have a handful, like count on one hand, the top-line drivers and he is definitely one of them.”
Mostert is third in the 2024 championship, only behind Triple Eight duo Will Brown and Broc Feeney.
WAU is due to test tomorrow at Winton Motor Raceway, in advance of the Perth SuperSprint on May 17-19.
