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Mustangs were consistently slower in the speed trap throughout the 40-lap encounter at Mount Panorama, usually by multiple kilometres per hour according to figures displayed on Natsoft timing.
While he kept Will Brown honest in the closing stages, until a late Safety Car effectively ended the contest, that was largely by virtue of very good pace in the second sector, which runs from Reid Park, across the top of the mountain, to the exit of Forrest’s Elbow.
Asked by Speedcafe for his read on engine performance, the Walkinshaw Andretti United driver sought to praise Supercars for investing in off-season wind tunnel testing but expressed concern over the outstanding parity question.
“First of all, I think what Supercars have done in the break, from the aero point of view, was pretty amazing,” he replied.
“I thought the cars looked quite balanced across the top when I was quite close enough to the other guys at the start.
“But yeah, the speed trap numbers don’t lie.
“My personal opinion, we need to do a bit more in that area.”
While the Mustangs were generally slower than the Camaros in the speed trap, Mostert’s was particularly so.
His was also the equal-slowest car down the chute in the Top 10 Shootout (the other being Richie Stanaway’s Penrite Mustang) but he still managed to qualify third with a storming second sector, which was three tenths faster than anyone else could manage.
Queried if Car #25 was running particularly high downforce today, he replied, “I wouldn’t think anything different than anyone else that I can see out there.
“But, at the end of the day, I kind of ran in that middle part of the race by myself, so I was punching my own air for a lot of it.
“But, the Safety Car restart and the start of the race, I thought, was pretty telltale.”
While aerodynamics attracted more spotlight than engines during the parity arguments of 2023, the Coyote-based Ford unit is under far closer scrutiny now that wind tunnel testing has been completed and Supercars has signed off on parity on the aero front.
Engine parity, though, remains a work in progress, with the championship using last weekend’s Bathurst 12 Hour event to conduct validation work in Gen3 demonstrations at Mount Panorama.
Shift cut deltas were used as a ‘band-aid’ measure in 2023 for the apparent transient disparity between the quad cam Ford engine and the pushrod Chevrolet ‘LTR’.
The cuts were left equal this weekend although it would seem that consideration was given to such a measure again, given Supercars General Manager of Motorsport Tim Edwards has confirmed different cuts were trialled in said demonstrations.
Dick Johnson Racing has taken over Ford engine supply this year, with Team Principal Ryan Story leading the project, although he suggested before track activity kicked off this weekend that not all of the ills had been cured yet.
Transient dynamometer testing as soon as next month, but more likely later, should provide more rigorous data, although Story’s pessimism looks to have been vindicated based on how today’s action played out.
Nevertheless, Mostert gave a favourable assessment of his Mobil 1 Optus Mustang package relative to his experience in the first year of Gen3, when he reflected on his late charge in Race 1.
“I was trying my hardest to catch the guys at the front but, even if I got to them, I didn’t think I would probably have much for them, especially after the start of the race,” admitted WAU’s 2021 Bathurst 1000 winner.
“But, my car was really good, I really appreciate WAU, they gave me probably the best car that I’ve had in Gen3 era.
“That was a lot of fun to drive, but just Bathurst is one of those tracks that really highlight a few things.”
