Chaz Mostert is the King of the Mountain once again after he and Walkinshaw Andretti United teammate Lee Holdsworth became the first polesitters in more than a decade to win the 2021 Repco Bathurst 1000.

Despite sustaining a puncture in the first half of the race, both Mostert and Holdsworth produced infallible stints behind the wheel of their Holden Commodore to help the team secure its first Bathurst win in 10 years.

In a race which had six safety car periods, there was plenty of drama throughout the 161-laps as Mostert crossed the finish line almost four seconds ahead of the Tickford Racing Ford Mustang of Cameron Waters and James Moffat, while Erebus Motorsport's Brodie Kostecki and David Russell rounded out the mixed podium.

However the weekend truly belonged to Mostert and Holdsworth, who were consistently towards the top of the timesheets throughout every session in the lead up to 'The Great Race', including the Top 10 Shootout where Mostert posted a record lap time to secure pole position.


When it came to the race, there were a few hairy moments for the duo early and they looked to have been the latest victims of the Bathurst pole curse when they suffered the left rear tyre puncture.

Although a grim scenario, the puncture didn’t prevent them from taking out the win as a combination of good strategy, a fast car, strong driving stints and some good luck all contributed to epic win.

"It was a pretty tough race, when we did that [puncture] I knew it was going to be a tough slog, but credit to the guys, this car has been speedy all weekend," Mostert said.

"We started on pole and we won the race and every time you start on pole you never think you're going win it, credit to this car and credit to the team.

"To all the fans; it's so good to have punters back at the track, I’m out of breath."

As for Holdsworth, it was the veteran’s first Bathurst 1000 win after 18 attempts.

I don’t know what to say, I don’t know what to say. This is unbelievable. "This team is amazing," Holdsworth added. 

"I wanted to jump on the bonnet and go with him, it was amazing."


While Waters and Kostecki were the full-timers making up the minor podium positions, it was the Triple Eight Race Engineering #97 Holden Commodore of Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander who were the biggest challengers throughout the day.

The duo looked to have been in the box seat for the win at multiple times and were set up for a huge charge for it when the final safety car period concluded.

Unfortunately their charge was short-lived as van Gisbergen suffered a puncture of his own with eight laps to go, only this time they didn’t have enough time to repair the error and reached the chequered flag as the third-last finishing car.

The heartbreak didn’t last too long though as van Gisbergen was officially awarded the 2021 Championship title upon arriving in the garage – the New Zealander putting in a stellar year to claim his second title. 

In the adjoining Triple Eight garage, seven-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup capped off his full-time Supercars career with an impressive fourth alongside Craig Lowndes after failing to make Saturday's shootout.

Finishing just behind Whincup in fifth place was the second Mostert’s teammate Bryce Fullwood, who picked up his best ever finish at Bathurst with co-driver Warren Luff.

A further three seconds off Fullwood was the highest placed Brad Jones Racing entry of Nick Percat and Dale Wood, while less than one and half seconds behind them were Tickford Racing’s James Courtney and Thomas Randle – the duo producing a mighty comeback for themselves after Randle had an incident earlier in the race.

In eighth place was the second Brad Jones entry, and the biggest movers for the race, with Todd Hazelwood and Dean Fiore finishing 10 places higher than when they started.


Rounding out the top 10 behind Hazelwood and Fiore were Blachard Racing Team's Tim Slade and Tim Blanchard in P9 and Dick Johnson Racing's Will Davison and Alex Davison.
 
Five cars failed to finish the race including Davison's teammates Anton De Pasquale and Tony D’Alberto, as well as incoming full-time Supercars racer and 2021 Super2 Series winner Broc Feeney and Russell Ingall – both cars crashing out within the final stint.

Click here to view the full results.

Click here to view the Stewards Summaries across Supercars, Super2 and Super3.

The 2021 Repco Supercars Championship is now complete with teams and drivers to turn to the 2022 season, which begins in Newcastle in March.