Mostert joined WAU in 2020 and has mostly lived a charmed life as the team’s spearhead.
His first teammate was rookie Bryce Fullwood, who despite being well-credentialed as a Super2 champion, struggled to trouble Mostert.
In 2022 Fullwood was replaced by Bathurst 1000 winner Nick Percat, who was expected to be a formidable in-house opponent.
However the union between Percat and WAU failed to gel, leading to his departure at the end of the 2023 season.
WAU opted to replace Percat with its own Academy upstart Ryan Wood, who has made an impressive start to life as a Supercars main game driver.
There were flashes of speed over a lap last season, while this year Wood has made a clear step up, particularly over a race distance.
In fact, across the Tasmania, Perth and Darwin rounds he was the better of the two WAU drivers, including scoring a maiden win in Western Australia.
Mostert struck back in fine style in Townsville last weekend with a pair of podiums, although Wood was also impressive in terms of race pace on a weekend where the WAU Mustangs lacked qualifying speed.
That there’s finally pressure from within the WAU garage is not something lost on Mostert, who admits he’s needed to lift to the challenge of a young, hungry Wood.
“I think we can all see how much he’s able to extract the speed of the car,” said Mostert. “And on that side of things, the last year, he keeps you so honest.
“You know if you give him the car, he can go and beat you.
“It’s humbling when you’re a bit of an older bloke because most of the time you’re trying to catch [the Triple Eight drivers] and refine the car and tune it, but when you’re a bit older you kind of forget sometimes to make sure you’re tuning your driving up.
“So when you’ve got a young, red hot bull that comes in, and he’s just sending it wall to wall and he finds a bit more time in this corner and a bit more time in that corner, you’ve got to tune yourself up.
“It is refreshing, it keeps you on your toes and I’m up for the challenge. I really enjoy it.”
Both WAU drivers are entrenched in the battle for the Finals, with Mostert currently sitting fifth and Wood in 10th.
The top 10 drivers following the Bathurst 1000 will remain eligible to win the Supercars title.
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