Ford’s Supercars parity struggles are not over despite something of a fightback at The Bend, according to team bosses.
While Brodie Kostecki extended his championship lead with a clean sweep of the weekend’s three races in his Chevrolet Camaro, and 305 points out of a possible 315 once fastest lap bonuses are accounted for, the Mustangs were certainly more competitive.
Indeed, if not for Kostecki, Mustangs would have locked out the front row and swept the podium in all three races at the OTR SuperSprint.
The event was the third for a new Mustang aerodynamic package, and the second on a particularly aero-sensitive circuit.
Tickford Racing led the way for Ford at The Bend, but Team Principal Tim Edwards believes there is still work to do on the Blue Oval package.
“I think it’s a fantastic result for Ford because it has been a very dry spell for them,” said Edwards.
“But, every circuit has different characteristics and certainly this circuit appears to suit the Ford.
“I don’t a hundred percent know why. I mean, certainly it’s a very low degradation circuit for tyres, as opposed to where we were [Sydney Motorsport Park] and we struggled three weeks ago.
“We just have to go to Sandown and learn some more, but certainly, I think we’re fairly confident that there’s still issues.
“What we sort of did for Townsville was a bit of a bandaid, and it’s got negative issues with it as well – you know, nothing’s for free – but we’ve just got to rely on Supercars and Ford and all the CFD work that’s going on.”
Edwards’ counterpart at Dick Johnson Racing, David Noble, opined that there were “promising” signs for Ford at The Bend.
“It looks like [gains have been made on parity],” he told Speedcafe.
“We’ve always said that capacity for DJR to sort of constantly put competitive laps together is what we’ve been chasing.
“It looks like a couple of other teams have been able to do that this weekend, so that’s good.
“Cam [Waters, Tickford] looked like he was trying to chase Kostecki down at the end there, so overall, it looks more promising.”
DJR, which is Ford’s homologation team, and Tickford would both stay on at The Bend to provide a car each for aerodynamic validation work on the Monday immediately after racing.
As reported today by Speedcafe, that activity is unlikely to produce any short-term changes given there have not yet been enough races since the new aero package was introduced for an official parity review to have been triggered.
Instead, the intent was to be prepared in the case the further changes are deemed necessarily in the future.
On that activity, Edwards said at The Bend, “Everyone knows there’s some more work going on tomorrow to try and fine-tune it.
“Because, the reality is, parity these days is such a fine line.
“We’ve gone from cars that were very different, and there was so much team IP in cars, that there isn’t that anymore.
“That’s why you’re seeing people like Brodie, they’re excelling and they’re beating teams that have been super-competitive in this championship for years, because we’re all playing with the same trainset now.”
Additional reporting: Mark Fogarty
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