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Chaz Mostert felt ‘a bit robbed’ after losing out on a potential victory due to an extra pit stop having produced an impressive recovery in Race 18 at Townsville.
The Tickford Racing driver was one of the star performers in the tricky wet conditions at the Reid Park circuit having scythed his way through the field from a lowly 16th on the grid after taking a swing on set-up.
Mostert excelled in the wet, climbing an amazing 10 spots on the opening lap and surging his way to an effective third position before making his first stop on Lap 20.
A strong second stint from the Supercheap Auto driver saw him pass eventual race winner Shane van Gisbergen to sit third, but the second pit stop proved costly as the crew was unable to complete the 120-litre fuel drop at that time.
Mostert raced to second spot after taking service and was reeling in leader Anton De Pasquale, who also needed a splash of fuel, to finish the race.
In the end, he was left to settle for fifth at the chequered flag after being forced into a late pit stop on lap 60.
“(We were) a bit robbed in the end there,” Mostert told Speedcafe.com.
“We had to pit again to get all our fuel in unfortunately.
“We had great pace, I got past the cars that had, at the end of the day, won the race so bit gutted deep down inside.
“But overall, I think showed the pace of the car in the wet conditions was quite good and trying to salvage the P5 even with an extra stop. So overall, reasonably happy.
“I got most of them off the start. I went from 16th to sixth in the first lap or something like that.
“It was risk versus reward. The risk worked but other days you might be hanging out the fence.
“I’m just happy it paid off.”
Mostert’s fifth followed a third place finish in Saturday’s Race 17 after qualifying on the front row, and keeps him fourth in the championship.
Reflecting on the weekend as a whole, the 27-year-old was ‘pretty happy’ having tried a few different tweaks on his Mustang, but remains determined to return to the top step of the podium.
“There are a few positives, few negatives,” he added.
“Overall I think it was good to come here and try some different stuff and worked quite well yesterday in the dry conditions.
“But we need to still improve on that and make it a bit better and understand it.
“The wet car (set-up) has been pretty quick most of the time I’ve driven it over the last year or so.
“So pretty happy with the weekend. We had good solid points but you want to win races.”
