CHAZ Mostert will race Mount Panorama in a Commodore for the first time tonight – virtually – in the third round of the Supercars Eseries.
However, it’s not the first time the new Walkinshaw Andretti United recruit has raced the iconic circuit in Holden machinery.
The winner of the 2014 Bathurst 1000 actually raced an HSV Astra VXR Turbo in one of his first sedan races at Mount Panorama.
It’s a fact we were reminded of while producing our upcoming book on the race, Bathurst: Going Global – 10 Years of Australia’s International Enduro 2011-2020, currently available for pre-order in the V8 Sleuth Bookshop.
Fresh from winning the 2010 Australian Formula Ford Championship, Mostert joined then Super2 Series-teammate Ash Walsh and Gerard McLeod in a Racer Industries-entered turbocharged Astra for the 2011 Bathurst 12 Hour.
Mostert had made his Mount Panorama debut the previous October, making a one-off Super2 Series appearance during its Bathurst round, and tackled the 12 hour to gain more miles at the circuit.
The #50 Holden wasn’t an outright contender for victory, however: the 2011 race was the first time the event was opened up to the exotic GT machinery that has defined the race’s last decade.
Qualifying 22nd on the grid but the fastest of the Class E Production Performance cars, Mostert, Walsh and McLeod comfortably led their class early until losing 13 laps while a faulty crank angle sensor was replaced.
The trio hauled the car back into the fight for second in class, only for a problem with the ABS system to send Mostert into the tyres at Forrest’s Elbow later in the race.
“I went in a little too hot and hit a bump right where I tried to brake,” he said at the time.
“The ABS decided there wasn’t enough load and pulled the pin on me, so for a second there I had no brake pedal whatsoever which was a bit scary.”
Patched back together, the #50 Astra made it to the finish in 16th place outright and third in class.
Mostert’s Holden is one of over 500 cars depicted in Bathurst: Going Global – 10 Years of Australia’s International Enduro 2011-2020 which includes photos of every single car to have competed in the Bathurst 12 Hour from 2011 through to 2020 including non-starting and non-qualifier cars.
Edited by long-time voice of the race Richard Craill, the limited-edition collector’s book will chart the event’s rise in global esteem and importance across the last decade, with reflections from key players, winners and influencers throughout the period, complete with recaps from each race from 2011 through to 2020 with complete results and statistics.
