Mostert didn't expect Townsville podium

Chaz Mostert says he didn't expect to score an NTI Townsville 500, but was still left wanting after recent aero changes to the Mustang.

Mostert pieced together a strong drive to third on Saturday, which was his first podium since March’s Thrifty Newcastle 500.

The Walkinshaw Andretti United driver may have three podiums in 16 starts, but thanks to his consistency, is still just 141 points from the series lead.

WAU put Mostert on a three-stop strategy, and he passed fellow Ford driver Cam Waters for third in the closing laps.

By then, however, he was unable to catch eventual winner Will Brown and Broc Feeney, with the former taking the championship lead.

“Today was the probably the best result we could have got, for sure — I didn’t even expect to get a trophy today,” said Mostert, who started 10th.

“Obviously, our strategy was great, everyone’s going to know that strategy from the Ford camp tomorrow.

“No doubt it’s going to be a lot harder work for us tomorrow, but I’ll leave everything else up to the professionals.”

The weekend was prefaced by new aerodynamic updates for the Ford fleet, with the rear wing and boot undergoing changes.

Ford teams spent Friday re-tuning their cars, but Mostert still found the 88-lap race to be hard work — although he suggested there’s still more his team can do.

“To be honest, it feels like we don’t really have a rear wing, so it’s been a bit hectic out there,” Mostert said post-race.

“We’re okay in the slow, mechanical corners, but the really high-commitment brake zones and then obviously the high-speed through the back section, the car just gives away.

“You’ve just got no rear at all, even when you’ve got a good tyre on the car [for] last few laps, it just degrades so much.

“Right at the end there when I had 10 laps better [tyres] than the guys in front, they started to drive away from me again.

“Just keep trying to learn the car a little bit — I suppose there’s still some stuff we could change to make it a bit better or learn.

“Just keep trying to change stuff on the car, see what things do… there hasn’t been really a thing we haven’t changed too much this this whole year.

“But from Friday practice to today, we made a little bit of improvement to the car, put it in a different window."

Supercars will return to the track for ARMOR ALL Qualifying at 10:00am AEST on Sunday, ahead of the Shootout at 12:00pm.

The NTI Townsville 500 will conclude at 2:40pm with the final 88-lap race of the weekend, Race 17.