Chaz Mostert has admitted to thinking Shane van Gisbergen was attempting an audacious overtake when disaster struck the Supercars championship leader at the Melbourne 400 on Sunday.
Van Gisbergen was sitting in second with two laps remaining in race nine when his front-left tyre suffered a lock-up, causing the defending Supercars champion to head for the pits and plummet to 20th as Mostert cruised through to win.
Van Gisbergen’s 20th was enough for the New Zealander to claim the Larry Perkins Perpetual Trophy, but the turn-nine incident could prove decisive in his pursuit of a third Supercars title.
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“I was trying to run my own race, and I look in the mirror and see the 97 with an orange number,” Mostert admitted.
“I didn’t see Shane have his lock-up, but I saw him fly past me in my mirror into (turn) nine.
“I thought, ‘he’s not going to try a move at 10, is he?’.
“He’s the kind of character that tries to put his nose into places that you never think (can) go.
“After that, I focused on my own race.
“The car was pretty speedy on the hard. Compared to the soft, our car was a lot better.”
Van Gisbergen missed the top 10 for the first time this season and Mostert’s win came on his 30th birthday.
Van Gisbergen and Mostert have clinched just one pole position between them this season, but no other driver has won after nine races across three rounds.
Will Davison started on pole in race nine and finished in second, while Anton De Pasquale grabbed the last podium spot.
The Supercars will next race on April 30, when the series touches down in Perth for the first time since 2019.
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