Shock race-altering problem curtails Mostert comeback
Chaz Mostert suffered power steering failure in closing stages of Race 21
Mostert was closing on leader Broc Feeney when he was forced to drop back
Two-time Bathurst winner gained 15 positions in impressive charge
Race 21 of the NTI Townsville 500 might well have been Chaz Mostert's best chance of securing an elusive race win at Reid Park.
Although he started 17th after making a mistake in Boost Mobile Qualifying, the #25 Mustang went on an absolute tear through the field in today's 70-lapper.
By lap 11, Mostert had surged forward to ninth despite the early Safety Car for the multiple collision on the opening lap at Turn 3.
Mostert emerged as a contender when he ran fourth in the middle stint of the race, and when he moved up to second after the final stop, he began to trim Broc Feeney's margin at the head of the field to as little as 1.4 seconds.
However, he began to fade as time ran out, eventually finishing some 6.4 seconds behind the championship leader.
However, it wasn't tyre life that cruelled him as one might suspect, instead it was something far more sinister that saw him drift back.
"If you said starting 17th that we'd finish second I probably wouldn't have believed you after the weekend we've had," Mostert said post-race.
"Credit to the whole Walkinshaw Andretti United team, our car was a rocket, but unfortunately with about 20 to go the power steering failed, so I was just trying to get in."
Mostert then further revealed that the issue stemmed from the lap one chaos that saw several cars clamber over the inside kerb at Turn 2 amidst three and four-wide action in the mid-pack.
"Something tweaked on the start down at Turn 2 when I went across the kerb where there were cars going everywhere, and it felt a little bit heavy from the word go for the race, and I'm like, 'Oh that's no good'," he added.
"Just before I got to 20 it started to get a little bit heavier and a little bit heavier, and then the last 20 it just kept getting gradually worse.
"When the steering goes, you kind of get this pulsation of pressure, so it goes light, heavy, light, heavy.
"You feel with these cars and these tyres, you really want the feedback to be consistent, you don't know if you've got understeer or oversteer.
"I just tried to hang on, the best I could. I'm glad it wasn't a 250, because the next 50 k's would've been very hard. So awesome to give our crew a trophy and have a fast car, and hopefully we can qualify at the front tomorrow and have a great race."
On-track action in Townsville resumes tomorrow morning with Boost Mobile Qualifying at 9:30am AEST, before the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout at 12:05pm AEST, with Race 22 starting at 3:00pm AEST.
