'Big scare' helps Mostert find direction

A "big scare" in Practice 1 at Sydney Motorsport Park had Chaz Mostert concerned ahead of a bounce-back in the night session.

Mostert, who is just eight points from third in the standings, was only good enough for 16th in first practice at the Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight.

Such were Mostert’s struggles, that he was nearly 0.2s down on Walkinshaw Andretti United teammate Bryce Fullwood.

In the cooler floodlit night Practice 2, Mostert clocked a 1:29.5117s to end up sixth fastest.

He did, however, run wide at the final corner and dramatically dropped all four wheels off the track.

Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Anton De Pasquale paced both sessions, and was the only driver in the 1:28s bracket in second practice.

Mostert was 0.705s down on De Pasquale, but was pleased considering his Practice 1 woes.

"Practice 1 was a big scare for us," Mostert said on the broadcast.

"Just really didn’t feel quite competitive, but the guys have really thrown the whole toolbox at it for Practice 2.

"I think we’ve got a bit of a direction going forward, so I’m happy to finish up in the top 10."

Mostert has won twice before at SMSP, and has won two races in 2021.

He may have been pushing hard on Friday, but Mostert wanted to prove a point to his engineers regarding where the #25 Appliances Online Commodore was losing time.

"Obviously you’ve seen me bouncing through the weeds there on my last run," he said.

"I was just trying to prove a point to the engineers on their squiggly lines that it can’t do what I want it to do.

"Overall, much happier. I’ll sleep a bit better tonight.”

Cars will return to the track for ARMOR ALL Qualifying at 3:35pm AEDT on Saturday.

A Top Ten Shootout will follow at 4:40pm, with Race 20 to commence under lights at 7:10pm.

Drivers will have just five sets of the Dunlop Soft compound from the start of Saturday's first qualifying session.