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There is set to be further Supercars parity testing in coming days, according to one Ford team owner.
The Ford teams raced at the NTI Townsville 500 with new aerodynamic components to their Mustangs following an official parity review which identified a deficiency under brakes.
The suite of changes was intended to return a substantial amount of downforce which was lost due to a stalling effect when the car pitched, with the stated effects said to include instability in braking zones and excessive tyre wear due to difficulty achieving exit drive.
While Anton De Pasquale finally gave the Blue Oval its second win of the season, and the first in which a Mustang was actually first to the chequered flag, some 17 races into the campaign, the jury is out on the question of whether or not the changes have been beneficial.
Stephen Grove, whose eponymous team fields two Mustangs, revealed that there will be more parity testing in coming days, and hinted at the possibility of further tweaks before the next event of the season, in the Harbour City.
“There is some more testing on parity coming this week, so we’ve got to see what happens with that before we head to Sydney Motorsport Park,” said Grove.
He identified long-run performance as an ongoing problem being experienced by his drivers, David Reynolds and Matt Payne.
“It is still extremely frustrating,” declared Grove, via an official Ford Australia press release.
“We think we’ve got a fast car over one lap, and the changes have made an impact, but the car still doesn’t look after the rear tyres.
“We had good one-lap pace but overall, the deterioration of the tyres was a problem for us. It’s just the race pace that is not there.
“Until we can get the tyres to last, that’s the way it is. We started second on Saturday and fifth on Sunday, but finished a long way back.”
Townsville’s Reid Park Street Circuit is not regarded as a particularly aero-sensitive track and hence the impact of the changes might not be fully felt there, although it does feature some hard braking zones where pitch behaviour is important.
Sydney Motorsport Park, on the other hand, has far more flow, but is regarded as being more torturous on tyres, a point noted by another Ford team owner, Tim Blanchard.
“It’s still pretty hard for us,” he stated.
“There is no tyre life compared to the Camaros. It’s hard to hang onto the tyres compared to the other cars.
“Sydney will be another tough one, but it will be interesting to see how we go.
“Tyre life is always critical around SMP and we still haven’t been able to achieve the tyre life of the Camaros.”
The Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight takes place on July 28-30.
