Mostert downs Pye in Dunlop Series opener

Chaz Mostert has defeated Scott Pye after a willing race-long battle for the first Dunlop Series win of the weekend at the Coates Hire Ipswich 300.

Mostert made a strong start from the second row of the grid to pressure his Triple Eight rival over the opening corners of the 15 lap encounter before the pole-sitter edged away to a 0.9s lead by the halfway mark.

Quickly closing down the margin as Pye’s tyres faded, Mostert spent several laps tucked under the wing of his heavily defensive rival before a touch exiting Turn 6 on the penultimate lap allowed the Ford driver to sneak through.

The pair were separated by 1.45s at the flag as Pye was left to narrowly lead home Scott McLaughlin and Nick Percat, who had sat line astern in third and fourth for much of the going.

Filling fifth through 10th were Ashley Walsh, Luke Youlden, Dale Wood, Cameron Waters, David Russell and Andrew Jones.

Jones found himself in the middle of a three-wide squeeze at the opening corner with Wood and Tim Blanchard that resulted in Blanchard spinning off the circuit. The Matthew White Motorsport driver rejoined and was soon one of several to dip under the existing Development Series lap record. After eventually finishing 19th, a dumbfounded Blanchard was handed a post-race penalty for the Turn 1 clash.

Mostert meanwhile ended the race with the new lap record. The former Australian Formula Ford Champion lapped the newly resurfaced venue in a best of 1:11.38s – almost 0.3s quicker than the previous benchmark set by Owen Kelly in 2004.

The results see Mostert close McLaughlin’s series lead to 43 points, with Percat, Pye and Youlden continuing to round out the top five.

Two more races will complete Round 4 of the Dunlop Series tomorrow.

See below for the full race result