 Former national karting champion and current Formula Ford championship points leader Chaz Mostert made his first steps towards a full-time V8 Supercar drive this week, turning his maiden laps in a Fujitsu Development Series car at Queensland Raceway under the watchful eye of Glenn Seton.
In a test session with Wayne ‘Milo’ and Di Miles’ East Coast Traffic Control Racing in their ex-Lowndes Triple 8 Racing BF Falcon, Mostert surprised even himself with his pace, turning almost 40 laps matching Seton’s early benchmark for the day.
“It was fantastic,” Chaz admitted almost casually. “I’d really like to thank Wayne [Miles] and Glenn [Seton] for the opportunity and the assistance. Supercars is clearly on the horizon, it’s my logical next step, so I was pretty happy to turn some laps, but like anything new, you have no idea what it’s like until you’ve tried it, and now that I’ve done some miles behind the wheel, I know that’s where I want to be.
“You hear a lot of things about the variances between a Formula Ford and a Supercar, but I actually found that you drive them in a similar fashion. Neither of them carry a lot of speed into the turns, so you have to triangulate the corners to try and carry as much speed out of the corner without creating excessive tyre wear.
“I must admit I wasn’t sure what to expect with the speed variation [between the Formula Ford and the Supercar], but after a couple of laps feeling the way, and understanding where the braking points are and how the car reacts, it just became another racecar that needed to be respected, so I actually felt I got to grips with it fairly quickly.”
Whilst his performance on the day promoted plenty of chatter on circuit, the step to a full-time Supercar ride is still a way off for the talented young Queenslander.
“My focus this year is to win the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship, beyond that Supercars is clearly the next step, however that’s also a big financial commitment, but we’re working on that as well. Right now though I need to focus on Darwin next weekend [June 18-20] and consolidating my points lead. We did some testing just prior to my Supercar test day and found some more speed in the car, so I’m hopeful we can go to Darwin and bag some serious points.”
2010 Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford
1. Chaz Mostert (99 points), 2. Nick Foster (97), 3. Ashley Walsh (84), 4. Geoff Uhrhane (73), 5. Adam Graham (68), 6. Ryan Simpson (64), 7. Ben Jurczak (39), 8. Nathan Morcom (33), 9. Andre Borrell (32), 10. Matthew Brabham (20)
Chaz Mostert is proudly supported by Factory Enterprises, Synergy Motorsport, Kitco Transport, DIY Pool Fencing, Quality Plasterboard Accessories, Absolute Glass, Logan Village Smash and Oberon Quarries.
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