‘Thanks to the trolls’: Mostert rebounds with Perth Race 1 pole

The result marked Mostert’s first pole position since Wanneroo last year and an emphatic rebound from a shocking Symmons Plains for the fan favourite driver.

It’s also a repeat of WAU’s Saturday qualifying effort at Wanneroo 12 months ago.

The WAU pair left their heroics to the dying seconds of the Q2 session.

Grove Racing pair Matthew Payne and Kai Allen led the way into the final minute having gone earlier than the rest of the pack for their key run.

However, Broc Feeney, Brodie Kostecki and then Mostert shot to P1, with the final order Mostert (53.6858s), Wood, Kostecki, Feeney and Payne.

“It’s always nervous coming 12 months from a good result,” said Mostert, who had been fifth in the Q1 session that was topped by teammate Wood.

“I needed to tune myself up from Q1 to Q2 and it really shows what Woody has been able to do this year, he’s really pushing me along.

“I’m glad I had a really fast teammate, tuned me up on a bit of driving, and just sent it in and came out on the other side.

“The simple work is that there’s a few internet trolls out there that basically say, ‘you’re done; since you have a kid and wife you lose two tenths’.

“So I’m glad to show you can find two tenths by having kids and wife, so thanks to the trolls out there, appreciate you.”

Reigning champion Will Brown ended up sixth fastest ahead of Cam Waters, Allen, Bryce Fullwood and James Golding.

Grove Racing team principal David Cauchi said his team’s early Q2 run was a strategic play.

“We thought the track temperature would be increasing,” he said. “It’s a tough call that one, maybe we should have had a bet each way.”

Those to narrowly miss progressing from Q1 to Q2 included Nick Percat, David Reynolds, Cam Hill, Thomas Randle and Will Davison, who will fill 11th through 15th on the grid.

The hairiest moment of Q1 belonged to Richie Stanaway, who only narrowly avoided contact with the back of teammate James Golding as the field prepared for a lap.

Although avoiding disaster, the Kiwi managed just 24th at the end of the session.

“We were just a little bit out of sync unfortunately. Just as we got there, the tyre was ready to go and the field was all parked up there,” he explained.

“It happens. There’s no room for error in this field unfortunately. It’s a tough one.

“We left the lane slightly too early. You spend a lot of time working on the car speed but if you’re not on the right part of the track at the right time, a 10-minute session can punish you a lot.”

Others to be eliminated in Q1 included Tickford Racing’s Randle, whose strong Friday form – where he was second fastest in practice – evaporated.

Randle also pointed to traffic as being an issue in his session, which he ended 14th.

“I was on a lap and the Red Bull cars kind of backed off for some reason,” he said. “I committed to that first lap, and I think I was just too close to them for the second lap.”

Dick Johnson Racing’s Will Davison was another to watch from the sidelines as his teammate tackled Q2.

Davison, who reported teething trouble with his new chassis during a lacklustre Friday practice for DJR, ended up 15th after again battling niggling issues.

“It was definitely better then [in terms of speed] but still a couple of silly dramas that we didn’t need, which was quite costly,” he said.

“We did the first run with that [side netting] flicking around and smashing me in the face, not ideal.

“And we had some alignment issues as well, massive left-hand down, so I think the corner weights are out quite a lot for some reason.”

Tickford wildcard Lochie Dalton rounded out the 25-car field, just over a second from the fastest time.

The Race 1 qualifying session was run on the new-for-2025 soft compound tyre, to be followed by Race 2 qualifying using the 2024 super soft.

Results: Bosch Power Tools Perth Super440 Qualifying Race 1