JOANNA GUELAS/ AAP
BASKING in his maiden The Bend 500 win, Chaz Mostert could only thank his co-driver for keeping his Toyota Supra in one piece through “absolute monsoon weather”.
Mostert breathed new life into his Supercars title defence in South Australia on Saturday after delivering Toyota their first endurance race win.
But it was his Walkinshaw TWG Racing co-driver Fabian Coulthard who navigated torrential rain in a stop-start 147-lap race that included three safety cars.
Last year’s grand finalist Kai Allen and co-driver Tim Slade took second, with Walkinshaw’s all-New Zealand line-up Ryan Wood and Jaxon Evans completing the podium.
It was a much-needed victory for Mostert, who has won just once in the new Supra after 29 races this year.
The dual Bathurst 1000 winner last took the chequered flag in May, winning the Tasmania Super 440 opener.
“We were just having a bit of a laugh after the podium ceremony. We didn’t expect this today,” Mostert said.
“We started a little bit further in the pack (in 11th), but the racing gods obviously threw a spanner in the mix with absolute monsoon weather out there.
“(Wood and I) were probably two pretty happy boys to be sitting in the garage watching the first 54 laps of that.
“That was some pretty hard yakka. ‘Fabs’ and Jaxon did an awesome job for the first part of that race.”
Coulthard was adamant the new Supra could compete at next month’s Bathurst 1000 and pull off an Enduro Cup cleansweep.
The pair had suffered an engine failure in last year’s Great Race, with Mostert famously accepting a beer from a spectator on the sidelines.
“I don’t see why (the Supra) can’t,” Coulthard said.
Wood added: “A hundred per cent, especially with a lot of the noise that’s been surrounding our package the last couple of months.
“It’s a really monumental step forward for us.”
Allen’s Grove Racing teammate Matt Payne crossed the finish line in fourth, but was demoted to sixth with a five-second penalty for hitting rookie Jayden Ojeda in the final stages.
PremiAir Racing driver Ojeda took fifth place, behind Triple Eight’s Will Brown.