There has been a thaw in the cold winds of rivalry. Long considered to be…
TICKFORD: DAVISON 4TH, MOSTERT 5TH ON MUSTANG DEBUT
PRESS RELEASE/Tickford Racing – Photo: Velocity Magazine (Darin Mandy)
Will Davison (No. 23 Milwaukee Tools Ford Mustang) and Chaz Mostert (No. 55 Supercheap Auto Ford Mustang) led the way for Tickford Racing on Saturday at the Superloop Adelaide 500, finishing fourth and fifth respectively on the race debut of the Ford Mustang Supercar.
It is Davison’s best race finish since he won the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 in 2016.
After starting 12th, Mostert appeared on for a potential podium, however those chances evaporated after he slid off track while challenging for third place shortly after the race’s halfway mark.
Lee Holdsworth’s (No. 5 The Bottle-O Ford Mustang) debut with Tickford Racing went sour on Lap 25 when he spun into the Turn 7 tyre barrier, causing damage to both the front and rear of his Mustang. After repairs cost him six laps, Holdsworth finished Race 1 in 21st position.
On a day where ambient temperatures neared 40 degrees Celsius, Monster Energy Racing’s Cameron Waters (No. 6 Ford Mustang) finished 22nd after the team was forced to change his cool box during a Lap 19 pit stop. Waters, who was adamant that the conditions hadn’t affected him at that point, lost 14 laps while the team replaced the cooling system, scuttling his hopes for a podium finish after starting the race from the second row.
The Superloop Adelaide 500 concludes Sunday, 3 March with Race 2 qualifying at 10:30 a.m. ACDT, followed by a second Top Ten Shootout at 12:45 p.m., and Race 2 at 3:20.
DRIVERS’ VIEW
No. 5 The Bottle-O Ford Mustang
Lee Holdsworth
Practice 4: 1m20.82s, 7th
Top Ten Shootout: n/a
Race 1 Finish: 21st
“The car was very good, very strong, so it’s frustrating to start the season like that. I feel for the boys, I’ve given them a bit of work on the car overnight, which is unnecessary. But I suppose the positive thing is we had a good, quick car. I’m still learning how to drive the thing, and I made a mistake. Anyway, we have another day to come back tomorrow, try to get it in the ten in quali and finish up high in the race.”
No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Cameron Waters
Practice 4: 1m21.57s, 19th
Top Ten Shootout: 1m20.34s, 4th
Race 1 Finish: 22nd
“I’m super frustrated. The cool box failed on the grid, for whatever reason, and I was trucking around pretty good in the early going. I wasn’t too hot or anything like that, and I was told to pit so I’m pretty frustrated. I train hard all year for when those kind of situations happen, and Supercars called me in. I’m pretty disappointed, I felt I would have been fine, and we had a good car, but it is what it is.”
No. 55 Supercheap Auto Ford Mustang
Chaz Mostert
Practice 4: 1m21.24s, 11th
Top Ten Shootout: n/a
Race 1 Finish: 5th
“I was pretty happy with our race pace, I just made a couple little errors out there which cost our final result. I think we had a good crack at a podium there, but just a couple little lock ups hurt us. We still need to make some improvements to the car, but overall a top five from starting 12th is a good day for us. When there’s a trophy you can get it’s always disappointing when you don’t get it, but in saying that I think we learned a lot about our car and what we need to try and do to be better for tomorrow. If we can qualify towards the front a little bit more, then we’ll see what we can do.”
No. 23 Milwaukee Tools Ford Mustang
Will Davison
Practice 4: 1m21.58s, 20th
Top Ten Shootout: 1m20.52s, 7th
Race 1 Finish: 4th
“It’s been a good weekend, so obviously it’s nice to get a great result. We’ve been chipping away all weekend; what can I say? Tough race, no Safety Car, so it was bloody hot out there, tough conditions. It was nice to settle in early, and we had pretty good pace there so I could drive measured stints, try and look after the tyres as well as I could, and I just really, really enjoyed it. It was my first (race) working with Brendan and the guys…communication in the race. It was good, I was hurting at the end quite a lot, but obviously had a carrot there with a podium. Brendan was in my ear, pushing me and pushing me. I probably wasn’t as strong in the last stint as I would have liked, but we still have good speed in the car.”
Tim Edwards, Team Principal
“Another roller coaster of a result, that’s for sure. Overall the cars performed very well, which is exciting for us. With Cam, we must have put the dry ice in 30 seconds too early on the grid and the system froze up as a result. Supercars needs to look after its drivers, but it’s frustrating to lose a potential result in that fashion, Cam has had great pace all weekend and today was no exception. We still had a good shot a podium with Chaz and Will and you can’t fault Chaz for having a go, unfortunately it didn’t pan out for us with a trophy, we could have had any or all four of our cars up there so that’s a promising sign for tomorrow, we’ll patch and tune things up overnight and fight on tomorrow.
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