- Chaz Mostert was trying to win his third Bathurst title
Supercars star Chaz Mostert has been hailed for producing a ‘brilliant Aussie sporting moment’ as he drank a beer just seconds after his attempt to win a third Bathurst 1000 title ended in bitter fashion on Sunday.
The 33-year-old was forced to retire on lap 58 of Australia’s greatest motor sport race after his Mustang stopped on Conrod Straight with engine trouble.
He walked onto a private property located on the side of the track owned by Shane Robinson, who is well known to race fans and has held gatherings of up to 1000 people at his house when the event is on.
Mostert was greeted by Robinson before another man handed him a beer, which he promptly cracked open and drank while acknowledging cheers from the crowd.
Channel Seven commentator and former Supercars star Mark Skaife was left in hysterics by the scenes.
‘Let’s have a bet, how long… oh! My bet was, how long before he gets a beer!’ Skaife told viewers.
Pictured: The moment a race fan hands Bathurst 1000 driver Chaz Mostert a cold beer after engine trouble ruined his race on Sunday
Mostert saluted the crowd as he was cheered on for what one commenter called a ‘brilliant Aussie sporting moment’
Mostert (pictured) was trying to win Australia’s greatest race for the third time
‘How long was that? That was Winx odds, to get on that one then. Standing ovation for Chaz Mostert, drinking a beer at Bathurst.
‘We all knew what was going to unfold, it just took about five metres earlier than I thought.’
Mostert took to social media soon after his race ended and wrote, ‘Gutted but I’m not thirsty anymore,’ on X, with an emoji of two clinking beer glasses.
Motor sport fans were rapt with what they saw.
‘No other sport in the world mate. Cheers!’ one wrote.
‘Chaz Mostert 0.00001 seconds after dnfing [did not finish] at the Bathurst 1000,’ added another.
‘Chaz is on the mountain having a beer with the fans, so he’s probably the happiest he’s been all weekend,’ said Ryan Walkinshaw, who owns the team Mostert races for.
‘I’m not sure we’ll be able to get him back.’
The Supercars star posted this tweet soon after his race was over
Pictured: Mostert’s car being towed off the track after it stopped on Conrod Straight
Race fans were overjoyed with Mostert’s very Aussie reaction to the disastrous turn of events
Mostert was far from the only driver to suffer dire problems as wet weather struck the event.
Cam Waters will need a miracle at Mount Panorama to win his first Bathurst 1000 after a crash by co-driver Mark Winterbottom in the rain.
Tickford star Waters had traded blows for the lead with pole-sitter Brodie Kostecki in an enthralling wet-weather duel in Sunday’s 161-lap race before handing over the No.6 car to co-driver Winterbottom on lap 66.
Battling the rain on slick tyres, Winterbottom then veered into the tyre wall at Forrest’s Elbow on lap 71.
The 2013 Bathurst 1000 winner was able to drive the Ford Mustang back to pit lane, but the damage was done.
Winterbottom dropped a lap behind the pack, with a battery-powered saw needed to hack parts of the car’s right-hand side off as Waters watched on from the garage.
The Tickford pair were 23rd with less than 80 laps remaining.
Nick Percat and co-driver Tim Slade, in the No.10 Matt Stone Racing car, were also out of contention after losing a cylinder.
There was plenty of contact early, with Bathurst legends Garth Tander and Craig Lowndes winding back the clock after a close call down pit straight.
