The Merlin Darwin Triple Crown has ended in thrilling fashion as Chaz Mostert produced a mighty effort to win the third and final race of the weekend.
After being disqualified from Saturday’s race, Mostert showed no signs of discouragement as he took out the win against the odds having denied Anton De Pasquale and Cam Waters of their second wins for the round.
Mostert’s fourth win of the 2022 season was a result of a brave strategy from Walkinshaw Andretti United and an incredible defence in the final stint of the 38-lap race.
The Queenslander had worked his way into top spot after pitting earlier than his rivals, only for a late safety car period to bunch up the field and bring De Pasquale, who was on much fresher tyres, within striking distance.
While there may not have been much hope, Mostert did everything he could to prevent the Dick Johnson Racing star from regaining the lead and superbly held on to the lead, taking the chequered flag first.
Rounding out the top five behind was Will Davison and Andre Heimgartner – the former having been involved in an incident with Shane van Gisbergen during the restart.
Right in the aftermath of the restart, van Gisbergen had attempted to pass Davison on turn one but ended up making contact with Davison damaging the number 97.
The championship leader then had steering issues for the rest of the race and dropped right down the order before being handed a 15-second time penalty for the incident.
Sunday wasn’t all bad for van Gisbergen though as he enjoyed a podium in the first outing of the day – a race that had plenty of drama of its own.
Starting off with a big crash on the opening lap centred around James Courtney and also involved Scott Pye, Todd Hazelwood and Thomas Randle, the session was quickly brought to a halt with the red flags shown.
When the race eventually resumed, polesitter Waters stormed home to victory thanks to an early pit stop and held off a fast-charging Davison, who had finished second in the round’s opening race.
With van Gisbergen finishing third, De Pasquale and David Reynolds comfortably claimed fourth and fifth respectively ahead of Jack Le Brocq, who enjoyed his best finish for the year with sixth.
Despite a forgettable final race, van Gisbergen still has a comfortable lead in the standings over Anton De Pasquale with 218 points separating the two.
Waters’ impressive Sunday saw him jump Davison for third place by just six points while it’s an even closer gap to P5 as Reynolds ended the weekend ahead of Mostert by just four points.
The Repco Supercars Championship continues next month with the NTI Townsville 500 on 8-10 July.