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Ford Mustangs such as the two fielded by Tickford are still yet to win a race in any of the six held so far in 2024, but the Australian Grand Prix suggested that has little to do with pace, if at all.
Mustangs from three different teams, Tickford included, took three of the four pole positions at Albert Park, including said three teams filling the top three in both Qualifying for Race 5 and Qualifying for Race 6 on the Saturday morning.
In both of those races, though, contact between Ford drivers while battling for the lead allowed Chevrolet Camaros to inherit first place and ultimately victory.
Cam Waters, who was one half of the bigger of those two incidents, then battled with the effects of the damage to his Monster Energy Mustang in Race 6.
“Cam got out there and did the best he could with a wounded car on Sunday, while Thomas [Randle] had a great weekend with some good results,” said Nash.
“The parity is definitely the closest it’s been in Gen3. We don’t believe we have any advantages in the Mustang but things are on track.
“In general things are good and it’s just ongoing work. We have no complaints about the engines but there are aspects of the package we still need to keep working on.”
Supercars conducted two rounds of off-season wind tunnel testing in order to achieve aerodynamic parity between the Mustang and Camaro, while Dick Johnson Racing has worked on a suite of updates to the engine having taken over that programme at the end of 2023.
With centre of gravity testing having been undertaken in the past 48 hours, an endeavour which is more proactive than directed at any known/obvious gripes, engines are the key outstanding item and will be until transient dynamometer work takes place in the United States at some point in the near future.
Transient performance remains a question mark, with the Bathurst 500 suggesting the Camaros are superior, but only slightly if indeed that is the case.
It was there, though, that Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert vied for victory despite his Mobil 1 Optus Mustang being set up for speed across the top rather than up and down the straights.
He was one of the pole-sitters at Albert Park, a podium finisher in Race 5, and in the battle for victory with Matt Payne in Race 6 before he locked up and nudged the Grove Racing entry off the track.
“The starts eluded us this weekend and it was a shame Chaz Mostert was shunted in the second race,” said WAU Team Principal Carl Faux, after Mostert finished Race 4 with exhaust damage.
“But it was great for Ryan Wood to get a top 10 to prove he can race with the top drivers.
“Ultimately we did not get the results we wanted, but the crew did a good job. We still need some work in a few key areas.
“Our chassis balance is really good and the car really looks after its tyres. The drivers aren’t really wanting anything and it can pull a lap time without hurting the tyres.
“We now need to get the starts right and work on some straight-line handling to see where we end up.”
The 2024 Repco Supercars Championship continues with the ITM Taupo Super400 on April 19-21.
