Motorsport: Mostert triumphs but McLaughlin extends lead

Chaz Mostert leads Fabian Coulthard in Tasmania. Photo / Getty Images

Chaz Mostert has fired a shot at the title contenders to take victory in Sunday's Supercars race at Queensland Raceway ahead of Kiwis Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen.

Red Bull Holden Racing's Jamie Whincup and the Prodrive Racing Ford of Mostert made cracking starts to jump pole-sitter and championship leader McLaughlin by the first corner.

It was Mostert who made the best of the strategy game to come out of the final pit stop in front of both McLaughlin and Whincup. While Mostert claimed just the third race win by an Australian driver this season McLaughlin skipped by Whincup to take second place and extend his lead in the championship to 129 points.

As he did on Saturday, van Gisbergen made full use of a strategy that gave him fresher tyres in the closing stages to pass a number of drivers in the final laps, including teammate Whincup, to score successive podium finishes.

Mostert drove a clean race and capitalized on his good start to take his second race win of the year.

"It is great to win here at Queensland Raceway kind of my home race," he said. "The Supercheap Auto car was pretty good in the race today.

"I had a good start and it all went to plan. It is an absolute shock because I didn't expect to win today."

McLaughlin's second-place finish capped a dominant weekend where he banked two more pole positions (he now has 11 on the season) and a race win as well.

"[It was] great for us - we had two in the top five which is great in the team's championship for us," McLaughlin said.

"I was disappointed with my start there - it was pretty average so I need to go the parking lot and play with my hand brake or something."

A satisfied van Gisbergen admitted he got a little lucky with the yellow flag.

"We tried the time trial way again and had some awesome battles through the field," the 28-year-old said.

"The safety car did help us - we went from fifth to third."

Teammate Whincup was left frustrated with his team's strategy. He was called to pit early to try and keep pace with McLaughlin and remain on the same strategy as the championship leader. As a result it left them vulnerable late in the race and Whincup would have preferred to have driven their own race and banked a solid podium finish.

"I am pretty rapt to turn around yesterday - being competitive out there," the six-time series champ said.

"We were just too aggressive in my opinion. We tried to win the race and we probably weren't going to win and that is what cost us a podium. Some days you just have to maximize what you've got and settle for a good haul of points."

The series moves to Sydney Motorsport Park in three weeks - the final sprint round before the three endurance events.

Championship Standings
Scott McLaughlin 1896
Jamie Whincup -129
Fabian Coulthard -233
Shane van Gisbergen -261
Chaz Mostert -351
Mark Winterbottom -561
Craig Lowndes -579