Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris made Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 history with victory in the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 from the back row of the grid.
The Ford Performance Racing duo clinched a famous victory with Mostert making a last lap overtake on leader Jamie Whincup to secure his maiden Bathurst 1000 win.
Mostert, partnered by V8 Supercar veteran Paul Morris, started the 1000km classic from 25th after being excluded from qualifying.
Here is what the pair had to say having won one of the most extraordinary editions of the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama.
QUESTION: Chaz Mostert, just replay that last lap of the race?
CHAZ MOSTERT: It was unbelievable. To even be up the front of the Bathurst 1000 after coming off last year with a damaged car before the race was unbelievable. I just kept screaming in the cockpit – I don’t know if anyone heard me over the radio – but I was just pumped and I couldn’t help it. Those last few laps were just the best feeling ever, to come across the line with all of those Ford fans, and words can’t even describe how I feel right now.
Paul (Morris) did a good job and we had it almost out of the race but we got it back out of the fence and we pushed on. All the Safety Cars kind of went our way and the car was pretty quick all weekend so congratulations to the FPR guys, second consecutive year, and hopefully we can come back next year and make it a hat-trick.
QUESTION: You came from 25th on the grid to first, it’s never been done before, but the break during the middle of the day must have been heart-wrenching for you?
MOSTERT: It was a bit scary but it kind of helped us out a little bit too – all of those safety cars helped us get those positions back up there. From 25th, I never thought I’d even get to the top 10 but we got up there, we got the team back up there and it was fantastic. Who knew we’d get from 25th to first and I think next year we might not even qualify or do the top ten, we might just save our tyres.
QUESTION: Just explain how big an achievement this is for your career?
MOSTERT: It’s unbelievable. This is my third win now in the series and to have it at the Bathurst 1000 is unbelievable. I had a win at Queensland Raceway and Perth and they were special but this tops it for sure. I’d grown up watching it with Peter Brock, and he was sadly missed when he left us, and now to be 22-years-old and hold the Peter Brock Trophy with Paul, and take it back to FPR, no words can describe it.
It’s definitely an emotional win for me and as soon as I see my Dad I’m sure I’ll break down crying. All the hard work he’s put in to me over the years to get me here through karts and Formula Ford and DVS, it’s a very expensive sport and now we’re here. He was up on the mountain in the seventies or eighties just watching the race and he never thought that his kid would actually win the race, so it’s absolutely fantastic.
QUESTION: Did the team keep telling you about the situation with Jamie Whincup?
MOSTERT: They said it was going to be tight but they didn’t really go into much detail. I said, ‘What’s tight? What’s tight?’ but I don’t think they could really say too much so I just kept pushing on. He blitzed the last ten laps, he bolted away, and I kind of ran out of tyres a bit so I was very lucky that he had to slow for the last two laps.
QUESTION: Paul, an incredible day coming from the back of the grid with one of the younger drivers and obviously one of the veterans. You’ve been around here a number of times but the last time you did this was about 20 years ago?
PAUL MORRIS: Yeah, actually its my third win in the series too, Chaz so that’s something we have in common. A Bathurst winner, yeah. It was just one of those days where you just have to stay out of trouble and I knew that if I drove the car and kept all four wheels on it he was going to drag it to the front. I just did what I had to do and away he went.
QUESTION: There were a lot of accidents during the race including an incident involving yourself?
MORRIS: Yeah, it was ridiculous, I just came out of pit lane and drove up to Turn 2 and there was a bloody gravel trap in the middle of the corner. I was just lucky I was going slow because I hit the pothole and the car was up over the pothole and onto the marbles and straight into the fence, so you just weren’t expecting it. It was just really bad and luckily the marshals were on the case really quickly.
QUESTION: Do you think that in hindsight the officials did the right thing to stop the race?
MORRIS: You know, it probably should have happened five laps earlier but if one guy keeps going fast through there then they’re just going to keep doing it until someone hits the fence. It’s certainly not his fault and you’re trying to race the race and keep up with the pack and one minute you’re hanging out of the fence and you don’t know why.
QUESTION: Have you been to another meeting, have you seen another day like this at the Bathurst 1000?
Morris: No, not at the 1000, but they did a good job fixing it up with the product. That track filler that they use is what they use a lot around the world.
It was a hell of a day. The car was really sketchy to drive, there were some guys there that carried on and I just tried to stay out of it because I just didn’t want to have anything to do with it, really.
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