Mostert's confidence boost

Four consecutive second-place finishes at the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix have come as a timely boost for factory Ford driver Chaz Mostert's confidence.

The 22-year old emerged from the Clipsal 500 championship opener with a badly bent Pepsi Max Falcon FG X after tagging the fiercesome turn eight wall in the 125km race two and then getting hooked up with Jamie Whincup's Red Bull Holden Commodore on the last lap of race three.

Mostert had been running 10th in race two and fifth in Sunday's double points 250km race three, following on from his third-place finish in the opening 125km lap race.

His DNFs mean Mostert heads into the next round of the championship, the Tyrepower Tasmania Supersprint at Symmons Plains near Launceston, on March 27-29, only 22nd in the points.

"It's good to come here (the GP) this weekend," Mostert told v8supercars.com.au at Albert Park. "It's actually favoured me personally that this is a non-championship round because it has allowed me to come back out and get my confidence back as quickly as I can and hopefully go into Tasmania and run right at the pointy end.

"You make plenty of mistakes in your career and I made two big ones in Adelaide and I am not too proud of doing that," Mostert added.

"But in saying that I had a good result in race one. So you take the positives, you block out the negatives. If you dwell too long on the negatives you won't get back to doing the positives as quick as you want to do."

Mostert qualified second behind Prodrive Racing Australia teammate Mark Winterbottom at Albert Park and finished second to him in each race, as the new FG X showed strong form on a circuit that aids aerodynamic efficiency.

Symmons Plains, with its big back straight sweeper and sweeping left-hander past the pits is also expected to be a good circuit for the new Falcon.

The event will also play host to the revised Supersprint format, with two 60km races without pit stops on Saturday. Last year they were 100km races.

The Dunlop tyre allocation also changes from six sets of softs to three sets of hards and one set of softs. The soft tyres can only be used in Sunday's race.

"It doesn't matter how long or short the race is you have to be on top of your game," Mostert said. "But the shorter races make it really interesting, it's like being back in my development series days.

"It's not like everyone has a brain fade, but they know they are not going to get a pit stop to get that position back or make a position.

"And when you get to the 200 the mindset is totally different."

Mostert dismissed his lowly position in the championship, revealing his goals and objectives for 2015 were not necessarily points-focussed.

"I was never going for the championship this year," he said. "If I end up there then that's fantastic. I want to finish in the top five, but in saying that I really want to work on my race-craft this year; being at the front, pushing for podiums and pushing for some wins if I can.

"Every time I go out on the track I am not thinking about the championship that much; 22nd at the moment ... I didn't even know I was 22nd until you just told me. But that's all good.

"If we have the speed to be at the front we will be at the front. If we finish in fifth we finish in fifth."