Thursday’s practice session at Sydney’s Accor Stadium was a hoot. Supercars stars Chaz Mostert, Will Brown, and Brodie Kostecki spent just as much time laughing with each other as they did setting lap times.
The Race of Champions is one part fun, one part competition. While there were smiles for miles under the grandstands in the make-shift pit lane, the competitive edge will undoubtedly come out when the ‘Nations Cup’ and ‘Champion of Champions’ are held on Friday and Saturday night respectively.
“If anyone gives you the keys to someone else’s cars and a venue and tyres, you’re going to send it. We’re having a lot of fun at the moment,” Mostert told Speedcafe on Thursday.
“I think the coolest thing is every time – even when we drove a couple of hours ago for some sighting laps – the tyres are changing so quick, the track’s changing so quick, it’s really, really interesting.
“It’s going to be on our toes for all of us. Honestly, you’ll see the guy that ends up winning the thing at the end of the day has been able to adapt the best and I think that’s a core thing that all race car drivers want in their craft is to be adaptable.
“Obviously it’s massive for all of us to be here, especially me being such a late addition, but everyone’s really helpful with the tips and feeling what they’re feeling. I think they just leave it down to the driver at the end of the day.
“There’s a competitive side, but for us it’s also a bit of a festival for drivers in so many different disciplines in the best of their fields to hang out.
“I don’t know why I’m here,” he laughed, noting his late inclusion after Mattias Ekstrom fell ill, “but it’s pretty cool rubbing some shoulders with some of these amazing stars. As much as I’m enjoying the competitive side, I’m also just enjoying the off-track antics just as much.”
The track is a figure-eight with two lanes allowing cars to run side-by-side in a straight shootout.
There’ll be no door-to-door racing, but there will be plenty of eyes on the barriers that sit on the track’s edge.
Drivers will be stung if they hit the barriers, which are placed on the inside of some turns. A chicane over the bridge is among the many obstacles drivers will have to navigate.
If drivers do clip the barriers, they will be hit with time penalties.
“The track’s cool and the track’s like quite unforgiving, especially on the tyres that most of the cars are on,” said Mostert.
“You’ve got to just push it over the limit, but then when you go hunting a little bit, it really just disconnects and then you know you’re in trouble for a long, long time.
“Today’s all about pushing the limits. The rally cars just feel out of touch for me, so I’ll just loosen up and see how we go, but it’s a lot of fun.”
So what’s it like switching from a Toyota 86 to a rally car to an off-road buggy?
“It’s okay because they all feel pretty foreign compared to what I use in Supercars at the moment,” Mostert explained.
“The tyres are kind of giving in about the same amount, so it’s just realising the different weight of the car, the different horsepower of the car, the pitch and the roll and all that kind of stuff.
“Nothing feels comfortable and I think that’s what they try to achieve with this event. I just try not to barry it up.”
The ‘Nations Cup’ takes place on March 7 before the Race of Champions to crown the ‘Champion of Champions’ on March 8.
