Under the watchful eye of Kelly Racing V8 endurance driver Glenn Seton, Australian Formula Ford Championship leader Chaz Mostert has conducted his V8 Supercars drive, testing a Ford Falcon BF at Queensland Raceway.
The former national karting champion made his first steps towards a full-time V8 Supercar drive, turning his maiden laps in Wayne Miles’ Fujitsu V8 Series Falcon.
Mostert completed almost 40 laps in the East Coast Traffic Control Racing-backed Falcon (raced last year by Michael Patrizi for Paul Cruickshank Racing) and matched Seton’s early benchmark for the day.
“It was fantastic,” Mostert said after the test.
“I’d really like to thank Wayne (Miles) and Glenn (Seton) for the opportunity and the assistance. V8 Supercars is clearly on the horizon, it’s my logical next step, so I was pretty happy to turn some laps.
“Like anything new, you have no idea what it’s like until you’ve tried it, and now that I’ve done some miles behind the wheel, I know that’s where I want to be.
“I must admit I wasn’t sure what to expect with the speed variation [between the Formula Ford and the Supercar], but after a couple of laps feeling the way, and understanding where the braking points are and how the car reacts, it just became another race car that needed to be respected, so I actually felt I got to grips with it fairly quickly.”
While the young Queenslander was happy with his test, he remains focused on the short-term future.
“My focus this year is to win the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship,” he said.
“Beyond that, V8 Supercars is clearly the next step, however that’s also a big financial commitment, but we’re working on that as well.
“Right now though I need to focus on Darwin this weekend and consolidating my points lead. We did some testing and found some more speed in the car, so I’m hopeful we can go to Darwin and bag some serious points.”