Chaz: 3rd
Nick: 24th

Chaz Mostert is back on the podium with a third-place finish for Race 16 at the NTI Townsville 500, while Nick Percat’s day was all but over by lap 8.

After two practice sessions on Friday, Saturday started with qualifying with Chaz putting together a strong lap securing himself a spot in the Top 10 Shootout later in the morning. Unfortunately for Nick, he was chasing rear end balance on the last part of his flying lap, putting him P20 for the race.

Chaz had to reuse tyres for the shootout, resulting in the Mobil 1 Optus Racing No. 25 out of tenth.

Race 16 wasn’t going to be easy. 88 laps, 250km and 27 degrees, it was going to be tough.

It was a clean opening lap for both drivers, Chaz having a ripper start with the seas parting for him on the first lap, avoiding carnage, he made his way up six positions to P4.

Nick moving through the field, up four positions, before his race was all but over when Mark Winterbottom hit and spun him, with front end damage, Nick limped home for the remaining 88 laps.

Chaz ran the three-stop strategy, coming into the lane to take four tyres on lap 22.

Chaz was the one to watch in the final stint, lighting up the timing screens and moving his way forward, passing Cam Waters, overtake number 26 of the race, to take the final step of the podium.

Tomorrow, we follow the same format, rolling straight into qualifying first, followed by a Top 10 Shootout, and another 88 grueling laps around the streets of Townsville.

Chaz Mostert

“That was a hard-fought slog to get the Mobil 1 Optus Racing No. 25 on the podium this afternoon, pushed as much as I could in the last stint, with some awesome battles along the way.

“There is still a bit of work to be done on the quali car, we will do some homework tonight, ready to roll out again tomorrow.

“The three-stopper strategy worked well for us today, maybe we will try a four-stopper tomorrow

and see where that gets us.”

Nick Percat

“Have had better days at the race track, the hit from Frosty put an end to our day early, but the guys and girls are already hard at work on the Mobil 1 NTI Racing No. 2 so we will be ready to go again tomorrow morning.

“On a positive note, we conserved our tyres today so that we have a bank of tyres to use for tomorrows race.

“Congrats to Chaz on a podium finish, an amazing result for the team.”