Mostert keen to see improvements

Chaz Mostert is looking forward to assessing his FG X at the Townsville street track next weekend, to see what gains the team has made since the season opening Clipsal 500.

Comparisons are often drawn between the two street circuits, and while Adelaide wasn't Prodrive's best event this season, Mostert believes part of that was the team having to learn about the new model Falcon.

While the FG X had performed well at the pre-season SuperTest SuperShootout a fortnight earlier - with Mostert fastest in the field and teammate Mark Winterbottom fourth - the Clipsal 500 was the car's race meeting debut.

With constant upgrades to the cars in attempt to stay ahead of competitors, Mostert believes the team has come a long way and is looking forward to seeing an improvement at the street circuit next week.

"Adelaide was the very first hit-out for the FG X and from Clipsal we've changed a lot of things and we've found a lot of things with the car - that it's definitely gained - and the way our setup trended away from what our car was last year," Mostert told v8supercars.com.au.

"So I think when we get to Townsville we might see or feel a different car than we generally do on a street circuit. I'm really excited to go there and see back-to-back from the start of the year to now and what we've learned with the car.

"So fingers crossed we can roll out a little bit stronger [and] a bit more consistent on the street tracks where we kind of felt Adelaide wasn't one of our strongest."

Prodrive (formerly FPR) has recorded two wins at the Reid Park Townsville circuit, with Mark Winterbottom victorious in 2010 and Will Davison leading home Winterbottom in a team one-two in 2013 on the Saturday.

The team has earned three pole positions and has been on the podium eight times since the first event in 2009.

"We'll see what we can do this year [and] put the consistency across all different types of tracks," Mostert said. With the Clipsal 500 having been such a learning experience for the team, this will be the first real test on a street track this season.

"I think the FG X is really allowing us to make those gains across our weaker tracks."

Mostert's finished 13th, fifth and seventh last year in his Pepsi Max FG, and 10th and 13th the previous year, his first time racing at the track in the V8 Supercars Championship, with DJR.

"Last year we had no qualifying speed at Townsville, which was really hard but the long races really help you claw your way back up," he said.

"We didn't have such a bad race car - we still think we were deficient in some areas - but I was able to fight with Craig Lowndes in one race, it was an awesome battle with him.

"So still had some pretty good results up there even though we weren't completely happy."

Tim Edwards praised that battle with Lowndes - one of the category's best - which came at the time Mostert began turning around his season, on the way to his eventual Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 win.

This year, Mostert is shaping up as a true contender coming out of the SKYCITY Triple Crown fourth in the Championship standings, just 19 points from third placed Fabian Coulthard and 174 from Winterbottom, who is leading.

The 23-year old knows consistency is the key and that a solid performance across the endurance rounds will help him stay in the top five come the end of the season.

"As you get into that last part of the year, the last five rounds including the enduros, you've really got to have the momentum if you want to come out the other side in position," he said.

"Frosty is doing really well leading the Championship - he probably didn't have one of the best rounds in Darwin of the year so far, but any day you can come away from a round and lead in the Championship on one of your worst weekends of the year is a real strength to our team."

Click here for all the TV broacast details for the July 10-12 Castrol EDGE Townsville 400.

The Castrol EDGE Townsville 400 will be shown on Saturday and Sunday on Channel TEN, with coverage beginning at 12pm and races LIVE from 4.15pm EST each day.

FOX SPORTS 506 will show the weekend in full kicking off on Friday and including all three practice sessions from 7am, as well as the weekend's qualifying and racing LIVE, starting at 7.30am on Saturday and 7.55am on Sunday.