Motorsport: Mostert gutted after blowing win

Chaz Mostert during the Tasmania SuperSprint. Photo / Getty Images

Ford driver Chaz Mostert is kicking himself after throwing away an almost certain victory at the rain-affected round of Supercars at Symmons Plains in Tasmania yesterday.

Mostert was leading with a handy advantage and appeared certain to cruise to the chequered flag before he made a little mistake and slid off the dry line and off the edge of the track. Bogged down in the soggy surface he dropped seven spots and saw a much-needed win for his Prodrive Racing outfit fall from his grasp.

"Yeah it was unfortunate to lose the lead of the race but we still bagged a decent amount of points and there's a long way still to go this season," a disappointed Mostert said after the race.

"I don't believe in bad luck, I believe in mistakes and I made a mistake today which sucks.

"We'll take the positives. The car was awesome, we were running away from the guys behind us for most of the race which was really good.

"These things happen, we'll turn it around and focus on Phillip Island."

The small but costly mistake summed up a pretty disappointing weekend for the PRA team.

2015 series champion Mark Winterbottom struggled yet again - the Ford star has been off the pace for most of the past year.

"Today was disappointing," he said. "We didn't quite have the speed that we needed to keep up with the top five guys and then we were forced to stack at the pit stop behind Cam [teammate Cam Waters] so that was pretty much our day done from there.

"The hit from behind didn't help but you just have to get on with it. There are a few things to look at before Phillip Island but these tracks are very similar so we'll see how we go."

Jason Bright and Waters gambled on a slick tyres to start the race but Bright slid off the track and recorded a DNF.

Waters however was the shining light for the Ford team. He made up time on the slicks and finished a credible sixth to continue his positive start to the season.

"It was a really good day," Waters said. "I started on the slicks and made good track position with that and from there it was all a matter of just seeing how our pace was from then on. The pace was pretty good, the car was alright too, it was setup for both the dry and the wet so it wasn't perfect but I'm really happy to come home with sixth, some good points and it's all kind of clicking now which is nice."