Chaz Mostert ready for Symmons Plains in 2018

The 2014 Bathurst 1000 winner will race in his fifth Symmons Plains event this weekend with the aim of claiming his first Tasmanian title – an achievement he looked on course for last year before giving up the lead with two costly mistakes.

Ahead of arriving in the Apple Isle for a crack at his 12th career race win, the 25-year-old paid credit to his mum for setting him on the path to success.

“When I was really young and I was at school all the kids were getting motorbikes and I thought it was pretty cool, so I thought I’d go ask Mum to get a motorbike,” Mostert said.

“But she said ‘four wheels or no wheels’, so I got into go-karting as a hobby and after I started getting a few results under my belt I thought it’d be cool to be a race car driver one day. I didn’t really think I’d make it or anything but along the way my parents backed me and a lot of family friends backed me as well, and I was very lucky to be in the right place and the right time and got to where I never thought I could.

“It was one of those things where you also have the doubts along the way because only a handful of guys get to make it into Supercars.

“If you think about Formula One there’s not even a handful of guys - there’s one guy that will make it out of the whole of Australia, so it’s pretty crazy.”

Mostert enjoyed his best season to date last year, notching nine podium finishes to finish fifth in the championship with a total of 2748 points.

The Tickford Racing driver sits fourth after six races this season and will continue to climb the table should he follow in the tyre marks of his two racing role models.

“You can’t go past the likes of Craig Lowndes, he’s everyone’s favourite driver, that’s how good he is off the track.

“But once I got a little bit involved with the big races l really looked up to guys like Glenn Seton, I think he was probably one of the most talented race car drivers out there and he let his driving do the talking.

“Those two guys influenced my career and I’d love to be a bit like them one day.”