Ford's Chaz Mostert is firmly back in the Supercars championship hunt after securing a hard-fought win in a rain-soaked 300km race on the Gold Coast.
The Prodrive Racing Australia star came home ahead of stablemate Cameron Waters, whose co-driver is New Zealander Richie Stanaway, to move within 121 points of the lead in the championship standings.
Chaz Mostert of Supercheap Auto Racing Ford Falcon FG-X Photo: PHOTOSPORT
After co-driver Steve Owen started from pole, Mostert had to hold his breath when his Falcon was turned in a collision with Red Bull Racing's Paul Dumbrell, an incident which resulted in a 15-second penalty for the Holden driver.
Holden's Tim Slade, who blew a 20-second lead built up by co-driver New Zealander Andre Heimgartner with a bizarre pit error, finished third.
Defending champion New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen kept his championship hopes afloat in the Surfers Paradise rain with a fourth-placed finish.
Van Gisbergen sits fifth on the championship ladder, 217 points off the lead.
His teammate Jamie Whincup has narrowed the gap to New Zealand leader Fabian Coulthard to a mere 37 points after the DJR Team Penske star endured a tough day.
Starting from 16th on the grid, Coulthard finished a lowly 19th after receiving a 15-second penalty of his own for an incident with Holden's Nick Percat.
Coulthard attempted to apologise to Percat after the race but the Brad Jones Racing man walked away from the Ford driver.
McLaughlin was left with plenty to do after co-driver Alex Premat spun early in the race, falling to the very back of the 26-car field.
The New Zealander battled his way through the field to finish 13th but now sits fourth on the championship standings with five races left in the season.
It was also a day to forget for Bathurst winners David Reynolds and Luke Youlden, who qualified 23rd, had to do a driver change through a window when a door wouldn't open and eventually limped home in 17th position.
The Gold Coast 600 wraps up on Sunday with another 300km race.
AAP
