In one of the most extraordinary events ever staged at fabled Mount Panorama, Ford youngster Chaz Mostert came from last place and to clinch victory in the Bathurst 1000.

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No driver had previously won the endurance classic from further back than 19th – a feat achieved by the late Peter Brock, David Parsons and Peter McLead in 1987.

The baby-faced Mostert, 22, was driving in just his second start in the endurance classic; his co-driver, Paul Morris, 46, was in his 22nd.

Chaz Mostert on top of the world – and his Ford. Photo: Getty

Mostert did not lead until the last lap of the 161 laps, when his Ford, which had earlier been lodged in a fence, overtook championship leader and Holden star Jamie Whincup to hit the front.

Four-time winner Whincup produced one of the greatest drives to get to the front from way back in 23rd on the grid, but he did not quite have enough fuel and could only coast across the line in fifth place.

But he was outdone by Mostert who started from stone last in 25th spot.

“Wow! Second year in the main game and this happens,” Mostert said as he got out of his car.

Later, on the podium, he told the crowd: “I’ll tell you what, in Bathurst 1000 there’s only one lap you need to lead, and that’s the last lap.

“I just kept screaming in the cockpit, “Cough you bastard, cough!’ It started to slow on the last couple of laps.”

Morris, who finished first in 1997 but was disqualified, was elated to finally win the event and hinted that it might be his last.

“This place has been beating me up for years,” he said. “Chaz has just carried that car today. I just kept the seat warm.

“Thanks to Chaz I can now tick the box and can probably hang up the helmet.”

In the end, Mostert finished four seconds ahead of Nissan’s James Moffat, with Nick Percat of Holden third, and the Mercedes of Will Davison fourth, one spot ahead of Whincup.

The epic race ended nearly eight hours after it started, making it the longest in history, following an unprecedented one-hour stoppage to repair a damaged section of the track surface at turn two, where there were a series of crashes.

Morris was among the victims, crashing into the wall at high-speed, as did Moffat’s co-driver Taz Douglas – twice – and Scott Pye’s Ford.

The incident-packed race forced a total of eight retirements and a record-equalling 10 safety car interventions – one the result of a kangaroo on the track.

Winning team: veteran Paul Morris and rookie Chaz Mostert. Photo: Getty

Earlier, pole-sitter Shane van Gisbergen looked set to come home first before stalling his Holden during a pitstop and being unable to restart it with 11 laps to go.

“I think it was my mistake. I think I over-fuelled it,” he said afterwards. “The starter motor was broken. It sucks, but we showed everyone what we could do.”

The error left last year’s podium finishers Mark Winterbottom of Ford, Whincup and Craig Lowndes to fight it out for victory.

A clash between Lowndes and Winterbottom ended both their hopes of a win, though, with Lowndes penalised for clipping his rival in the dying stages.

“There was a lot of sun glare and I made a mistake,” said Lowndes.

The race became a shoot-out between Whincup and Mostert, with Whincup desperately trying to manage his fuel with an increasingly quick Mostert breathing down his neck.

With three laps remaining, Whincup had a three-second gap on Mostert as his team radioed him to conserve his “marginal” fuel levels.

Whincup seemed to respond only on the penultimate lap to the radio calls begging him to slow down. With one-and-a-half laps to go, Whincup’s team informed him he had only one lap’s worth of fuel.

It proved costly as Mostert, with extra power and reserves, sped through the gap to triumphantly confirm his first title on the mountain and Whincup was forced to coast down the hill in the final lap.

“I had two options,” Whincup said afterwards. “To back it right off and run second or risk it all and go for the win.

“That’s pretty much my style, so I just had a big crack. Didn’t quite get there. I did absolutely everything I could.”

The race was red-flagged with 100 laps to go after a patch of tarmac at turn two broke up heavily, causing a number of accidents.

Moffat summed up he drama of the event, saying: “I can’t believe we stuck the car in the fence twice and we ended up second at Bathurst. This is ridiculous.”

With AAP, ABC