Mostert knows he can improve further

Chaz Mostert believes he learned a lot about himself over the weekend, as he went from the high of achieving three pole positions and one race win, to being stranded nose down in the tyres after an error while leading Sunday's double points race.

He and teammate Mark Winterbottom clean-swept all qualifying and race sessions in the Pepsi Max Crew FG X Falcons at the NP300 Navara Winton SuperSprint, and Mostert looked in the box seat for victory in yesterday's 200km sprint before dropping a rear tyre off track at turn three.

Before he knew it, he had pitched into the tyre barrier, the back of his car off the ground, triggering the safety car that changed the landscape of what is always a strategy-fuelled fight on Sunday.

Though disappointed not to record a result when showing so much promise, factory driver Mostert - who is just 23 years old - wouldn't let himself get too upset about the race-ending mistake.

"One mistake the whole weekend just cost me the big points - but other than that, it was an awesome weekend," he said in the wake of his teammate's win.

"You can drop the bottom lip I guess, drag it around and beat yourself up but everyone makes mistakes.

"There's not one person in the field who hasn't crashed a car before - and if they haven't, congratulations to them, but they're not trying hard enough.

"We're all pushing out there 110 per cent and unfortunately some days it bites you."

While he is a Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 winner, and just notched up his fourth V8 Supercars Championship race win over the weekend, this is onlyhis third year in the category and his second driving with the factory Ford team, after competing from the fourth round onwards in 2013 with DJR.

"I think I learned a lot about myself in pressure situations," Mostert said of the weekend at Winton.

"Just running at the front, qualifying - I'm getting better at that, which is good - and stuff we're doing with the car is making sense.

"It's getting better and better ... there are still some little areas we need to work on but I think it's good. When the majority is good you can focus on those little areas, those one per centers and tie it all together."

Mostert currently sits eighth in the Championship points after dropping from seventh after today's finish - and though he is aiming for a top five finish for the season, early on he's not putting any added pressure on himself.

"Everyone asks me about the Championship and all that stuff - I know in myself I've got a lot to learn, as you can see there [from the mistake].

"I'm getting better and better every time I get out and I'm getting more and more confident every time I'm at the front - taking that away and building on that is probably what it takes to win."

Mostert was engaged in intense racing with Craig Lowndes, who was on older tyres, and Fabian Coulthard before his crash and the exchange between the legend and the up-and-comer showed just how precise V8 Supercars racing is.

"Lowndes fought pretty hard even though he was on a different strategy - but a credit to him," Mostert said.

"I love racing Craig, he's one of the cleanest racers out there and it was good to rub a little bit with him and have the respect to race with him.

"When I had the move he conceded, so it's always good racing someone like that and it's good to look up to someone like that as well."

After earning his first ARMOR ALL Pole Position in Perth, Mostert has continued to clock up top times, pocketing all three cheques for P1 qualifying across the Winton weekend and improving another area of his race craft.

Now Ford has broken the pole drought, Mostert will be out for more in Darwin, when the V8 Supercars next hit the track for the SKYCITY Triple Crown from June 19-21. Mostert has earned five poles from 12 races, the most of any driver. Lowndes is second in line with three for the season.

"I've got the hunger bug for pole," he said.

"That's a credit to the guys here, they gave me a fast car and Adam [De Borre, engineer] especially, he's gotten to know exactly what I want from the car, he's got it working.

"So fingers crossed can go to the Darwin circuit with the new track [resurfaced] and it can be a rocket there as well."