A PATCH of oil has brought Chaz Mostert unstuck in the opening practice session of the final TCR Australia Series round at the Repco Bathurst 1000.
The championship leader was on his first flying lap of the session when he was caught out on the entry to Reid Park, backing the #25 Melbourne Performance Centre-run Audi into the wall.
“I lost it on the entry, which was pretty crazy,” Mostert told V8 Sleuth.
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“There was heaps of oil on the track, pretty unclear trying to see where it was.
“There was a lot of sawdust down, but the spot where I lost it there wasn’t as much, so it was hard to work out where the oil started and finished.”
While Mostert escaped the crash unscathed, the Bostick-sponsored Audi did not.
“The car’s a little bit hurt, but I’ve seen the Melbourne Performance Centre work wonders before, so we’ll see what they come up with,” Mostert said.
The team is working to repair the car in time for Mostert to take part in this afternoon’s second practice session at 3:10pm.
At this stage, Mostert is scheduled to take part in only Wednesday’s opening race of the weekend before switching focus to his Supercars duties with Walkinshaw Andretti United.
Mostert holds a 106-point lead in the TCR standings after four rounds with a total of 142 points on offer across the three-race Bathurst decider.
He was set to miss the finale as all three TCR races were scheduled for the same days as Supercars practice and qualifying, but the opening TCR race has moved from Thursday morning to Wednesday afternoon, giving Mostert the opportunity to take part.
Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Jordan Cox topped the interrupted session by 1.3 seconds over title contending teammate Aaron Cameron, with fellow championship challenger Luke King a further 0.9 of a second adrift in third.
