Pepsi Max Crew’s Chaz Mostert has thrown down the gauntlet to the V8 Supercars field after topping the full-field ARMOR ALL SuperShootout at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The competitive element at the sydney.com Test Day saw each of the 25 cars have their moment to shine, pushing the limits to earn the weekend’s top time and set the standard for the 2015 season.
And young gun Mostert – who has never achieved a V8 Supercars pole position and was debuting the FG X Falcon this weekend – has taken home the $2500 cheque from ARMOR ALL for his mad dash.
“It’s fantastic … everyone’s on the same brand new tyre, one lap to do the job and it’s good to be well inside the top 10 – further I front than we thought we would be,” Mostert said.
“The guys have worked so hard in the off-season… we’ve got a bit of homework to do, I wasn’t quite happy with the balance so a bit more speed to get out of her.”
Temperatures skyrocketed in Sydney, as cars were released in reverse 2014 Championship order for their one lap dash, with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport’s Tim Blanchard first out of the gate, having joined the series as a full-timer this season.
Blanchard’s 1min33.5486’s was immediately eclipsed by Volvo’s newest recruit David Wall, and while the followers lost their laps for overusing the track limits, Nissan’s Todd Kelly jumped into the ‘32s’ with a 1min32.8378 off the back of recording the fastest time yesterday.
Eyes were on DJR Team Penske’s Marcos Ambrose, and he delivered, with his lap over one second quicker than the times previously recorded, with a 1min31.774.
James Moffat sat at the top for a time, and while his Nissan teammate Michael Caruso was faster, his time was revoked after failing to arrive at pit exit when required.
Mostert then pounced with a 1min30.658 lap and while James Courtney, teammate Mark Winterbottom and then Shane van Gisbergen – thousandths away – all challenged; it finally came down to the six-time champ.
But even Jamie Whincup couldn’t topple the FG X racer, 0.9167sec off the pace, landing 12th after some small errors in his shootout lap.
Catch the highlights on Channel Ten from 4-5pm today.
Teams will evaluate the information gathered at the sydney.com SuperTest and prepare for the first point-scoring race of the year, the Clipsal 500, from February 26-March 1.
