News
Chaz Mostert triumphs against Luke King in epic Audi tussle
Chaz Mostert defeated Audi team-mate Luke King in a thrilling battle to decide Race 2 at Phillip Island for the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series.
Mostert triumphed in a tense race-long fight with his Melbourne Performance Centre stable-mate with a brilliant pass set-up at Turn 1 and completed at Honda for the win.
At the chequered flag less than a second separated the pair of Audi RS3s, while John Martin picked up a third-place result in his Honda Civic Type R.
Pole-sitter Mostert lost out at the start and dropped to third as the Peugeot 308 TCR of Aaron Cameron and Audi of King both got by on the opening lap.
The trio battled hard with a number of lead changes as the Audis appeared to have the longer legs in a straight line.
King made a decisive move at the end of the main straight on Cameron for the lead as the latter then had to defend from a charging Mostert.
While Mostert and Cameron squabbled, King opened up a sizeable lead out front to the tune of four seconds before Mostert made it through into second.
The Bostik Audi driver closed up quickly and challenged for the lead on Lap 7, with the pair running side-by-side through Hayshed and into MG, but King held on for a few laps more.
Mostert had a wheel in the dirt on the main straight on Lap 12 trying to find a way by King, before the decisive move came a lap later.
Exiting Turn 1, Mostert dove to the outside of King at Turn 2 and impressively stuck alongside through the run to Honda where he had the inside line and completed the winning move.
Tony D’Alberto finished fourth in his Honda Civic Type R followed by the fifth-placed Peugeot 308 of Jason Bargwanna.
Jordan Cox, who led the series coming into the weekend, struck more bad luck in Race 2 and didn’t make it to the finish in his Alfa Romeo Giulietta.
Cox was caught up in an early tangle exiting Honda and had to park the car up with significant front-right damage, subsequently dropping to fourth in the standings while Mostert took over the lead.
James Moffat picked up bonnet damage on his Renault Megane RS and lost time in the pits, while Lee Holdsworth stalled on the line and dropped to the rear of the field.
Race 3 is scheduled for 14:25 AEDT.
CLICK HERE for results.