Nick Percat believes the Mustang is “not even close” to the Chevrolet Camaro, as he lamented an incident with one of his fellow “Ford Cup” drivers.
The Walkinshaw Andretti United pilot was running 10th in the closing stages of Race 14 of the Repco Supercars Championship at the Betr Darwin Triple Crown.
However, he was set to win the so-called Ford Cup given the Mustang just in front, that of David Reynolds, had a five-second penalty against it for a pit lane breach.
Percat would then earn a penalty of his own when he turned the #26 Grove Racing around at the Turn 6 hairpin on Lap 28 of 35 around Hidden Valley.
Still, the race was already more fodder for the parity debate which continues to rage in the first season of Gen3 Supercars.
“I think, honestly, our cars are a little bit hard to drive,” said Percat.
“I think it’s honestly the same for all the Ford guys. Were just on the edge all the time so, if it goes slightly wrong…
“I qualified seventh and then I qualified 24th, 10 minutes later, so I just feel like we’re having to try and extract everything we can.
“The race trim, we’re not even close to the Camaros, so I just saw it firsthand.
“I just think all the Ford guys, we all have to drive them quite hard and why we’re up and down the grid order.
“Reynolds is down the back sometimes, me and Chaz [Mostert, team-mate] down the back, JC [James Courtney], [Cameron] Waters… like, it’s crazy.
“So, we’ll keep pushing on and hopefully get through from 24th, 25th, back row. I’ll race Chaz and see how many positions we get.”
Percat had been the highest Ford qualified for Race 14, putting the #2 Mobil 1 NTI Mustang seventh on the grid, and maintained position until the pit stop cycle began.
In essence, he maintained position relative to the other Fords having emerged 10th, albeit one position behind Reynolds, before their incident.
On that, the South Australian said, “[It was] Not ideal. Obviously, if you drill someone square in the middle the rear bar, it’s clearly your fault.
“He was defending hard but we’re here to race cars, we’re not here to bloody put the indicator on and wave me through, so, my mistake.
“I was probably trying to watch where Bryce [Fullwood] was, to try and not leave a hole for him, but obviously copped the penalty, got the mistake.
“But, I was leading the flag in the Ford Cup and then had some friendly fire there, so, not ideal.”
Percat would be classified 19th after taking the chequered flag in 10th, a position inherited in the official classification by fellow Mustang driver Thomas Randle.
Top 9 finishers all Chevrolets, only other time 9 cars from one manufacturer finished in the first 9 places was 1979 Calder (Torana A9X 1st through 9th) pic.twitter.com/vroTfFqvvM
— Nick Percat (@NickPercat) June 18, 2023
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