Mostert: Morris loves the mentor role

Pepsi Max and Ford Performance Racing's form man Chaz Mostert believes he and co-driver Paul Morris have a red-hot podium chance at the upcoming enduros.

'The Dude' was announced as the youngster's co-driver earlier this year - and it's fair to say the decision was met with some criticism, with some fans having the perception Morris is accident-prone in a V8 Supercar.

However, last year paired with Scott Pye, the 46-year old helped guide the rookie to sixth at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 - Pye's best career finish at that time (which stood until Queensland Raceway last month).

"If everything goes our way, you never know where we will end up," Mostert told v8supercars.com.au.

"I think he really enjoys driving with a young guy - I think he loves that mentor role, I think it kind of calms him down a little bit! We're looking up to him, and he wants to be a good role model when he gets out there."

It's Morris' experience behind the wheel that really grabs Mostert's attention - the racing stalwart debuted at Mount Panorama in a Toyota Corolla in 1991, the year before Mostert was born!

"What I really do like about Paul is watching his Dunlop Series races, he's so experienced - if a guy is quicker and does a proper pass on him, he slots straight in behind him and he's back in his rhythm straight away," the 23-year old said.

"There's not a lot of guys out there who get past and don't get rattled and lose a lot more. That's going to be really handy for us in the long races, and he has proved he's really fast at Bathurst, for many years - last year, he was probably a top 10 co-driver around there.

"We'll get him up to speed at Sandown and Gold Coast ... Sandown we (FPR)were a bit off the mark there last year pace-wise compared to the Triple Eight guys. So we've got some homework to do and we'll see how we end up."

Mostert snatched a win in his rookie season in V8 Supercars last year and quickly progressed up the ranks to race alongside Mark Winterbottom in the factory Ford fold. And at the last few events, Mostert has proved the form FPR man, while his teammate has hit a run of bad luck and tyre issues.

However, Mostert played down the acknowledgement of his recent success, despite recording three podium finishes over the past two rounds, including a climb from 11th to second in the wet in Sydney.

"I think I've just been really lucky at the moment," he said.

"FPR as a team, we can't really be happy, we want all four cars up there every race ... I'm always trying to be level headed and I think there's always someone better than you, they just haven't had the opportunity. So I'm very grateful to have my job, and love my job to bits - I don't really put it as a job, I just love coming racing giving it my all."

It was a bit of a rocky start to the Championship for Mostert, who was involved in accidents at the Clipsal 500 and Australian Grand Prix (while not for points, it was a huge effort for the team to repair the #6 in time for the following event).

From as low as 24th he has climbed to seventh in the points - his goal for the season is fifth - it seems he still doesn't feel like a consistent contender yet.

"We're trying so much different in car #6 than what #5 is and probably some of the other guys, because we just feel like we should be the test guinea pigs. We're seventh - we've actually gained points really quick ... at the start of the year we had some bad results and were like, we're the nobodies in the Championship, so keep trying.

"We kept that mentality even though we're closer to the front. It's still paying off for us a little bit."