Sydney laps a head-start for Moffat

Time in Chaz Mostert’s Supercheap Ford during the Sydney test has given James Moffat a useful early insight into what’s required to extract speed from a Tickford FG X.

Moffat joins Tickford Racing for this year’s PIRTEK Enduro Cup after losing his full-time drive with Garry Rogers Motorsport at the end of last year.

The Ford is the fourth different Next Generation Supercar Moffat has driven, following a stint at Nissan (2013-15) and GRM, where he ran a Volvo in ’16 and Holden in ’17.

Although pairings are yet to be announced, expectations that Moffat will be paired with Mostert were solidified in Sydney, where the duo shared the Supercheap entry.

Tickford brought all four of its co-drivers to the test, with Dean Canto in Mark Winterbottom’s Falcon in what is anticipated to be its only unchanged enduro line-up.

Mostert’s 2017 partner Steve Owen turned laps in rookie Richie Stanaway’s Falcon and recruit David Russell sampled Cameron Waters’ new FG X.

Although only completing around a dozen laps and ending up at the foot of the combined times, Moffat told Supercars.com the day was beneficial.

“It was good to get back in a Supercar,” he said.

“It’s quite a bit different to what I’ve been used to the last couple of years, so there were some differences there for me to adjust to.

“It gives me the opportunity to go back and think about things and understand where I can improve from a driving point of view and just go from there.

“Clearly it was important for Chaz to do most of the running with the change in tyre this year, for those guys to understand what impact that is going to have on the cars.

“But overall it was good just to log some laps and get familiar with the team, all those sorts of things you have to do as a co-driver.”

Winterbottom and Mostert are garage-mates again within the four-car Tickford squad

Moffat will combine his Tickford enduro duties with a full season in the Porsche Carrera Cup, driving for Wall Racing.

He previously raced in the one-make category in 2008, prior to a two-year stint in the Dunlop Super2 Series and his seven full-time Supercars campaigns.

Moffat says he’ll be back with Tickford at every opportunity this year, including its two remaining test days and co-driver practice sessions scheduled for Winton and Queensland Raceway.

“I’ll be doing them and the other testing that the team has got scheduled, so come Sandown we should be well prepared,” he said.

Mostert ended up just 25th in the afternoon session at the Sydney test, where differing tyre condition heavily impacted the order.

"We stuck to our plan, we were actually ahead of our plan at midday which was great," surmised Mostert.

"I think there's some stuff we can take out of the day and have a look at when we're back in the workshop and work out if we got any gains.

"It was an uneventful day for us, and the car still feels like a Supercar, so we'll get to Adelaide and see how we go."