K&N-Backed Teams Dominate the Podium at Perth's Barbagallo Raceway
- May 8, 2017
After a victory in the last round of the championship, Chaz Mostert backed it up this weekend with a second place finish in Sunday’s race behind Scott McLaughlin. Mostert admits it hasn’t been the strongest start to the year, but four rounds in the #55 Supercheap Auto Ford Falcon is starting to come on strong. “We're starting to find a base with our car but we've got a bit more work to do yet. It was good to bag some more points and get another consistent result so I'm pretty happy,” Mostert said. "It’s awesome to get another podium this year. It wasn't the best weekend overall but Sunday was pretty awesome. The boys worked pretty hard, we made some big changes with the car and got it back feeling good for qualifying, closer to what we've had for the past couple of rounds.” Fellow Prodrive racer, Mark Winterbottom, finished up in fourth place and is pleased with the progress the team has made ahead of returning to its test track, Winton Motor Raceway in two week’s time. “Changes overnight in strategy direction, going back to sort of what we had before Phillip Island helped today and has given us a good direction heading into Winton. Fourth is another strong result, I'm happy we've got some consistency going and that we're making gains so bring on the next one,” Winterbottom said. K&N-backed Holden Commodores also featured in the top 10, with Tekno Autosport’s Will Davison fifth and Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Garth Tander in ninth. Australian GT also saw strong performances for the K&N-equipped Audi R8 LMSs of Ash Walsh/James Koundouris and Kelvin van der Linde/Geoff Emery claiming second and third respectively in the second of two 60 minute endurance races.
"I knew that it was going to be about making the tyres live over the distance," said Walsh. "The end result is quite good – it's always happy to be up there running in the top five. You can't be disappointed with that." Van der Linde and Emery also close the gap to the championship lead, which now sits at just 28 points with two rounds remaining. "With every step we're getting closer and we've got a real shot at it now in the last two rounds. It's not necessary to go out and win every race – we're in it for the long haul,” Van Der Linde said. The Supercars Championship resumes at Winton Motor Raceway with the Winton SuperSprint, while Australian GT moved to endurance mode with the opening round of the Australian Endurance Championship at the Phillip Island 500. | |||
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