It’s been a busy day on track for the Team today. The morning kicked off with two practice sessions which saw Ryan Wood light up the timing screens, finishing fasted in Practice 1, whilst Chaz Mostert clocked in P5 – a strong start to the day.

Qualifying was up next, split in a two-part session. Both Chaz and Ryan comfortably made it into the final session, putting them in a position to fight it out for pole position. Unfortunately, we couldn’t quite maximise the final run which saw Chaz start P9 and Ryan right next to him in P10 for the 100km afternoon race.

As the lights went out, it was elbows out from the get-go. There was a lot of biff and barging in the opening laps with turn 3 turning into the chaos zone with Ryan getting caught up with Broc Feeney losing two positions after being run wide dropping down to P12.

Chaz kept it clean and tidy through the chaos and kept his head down for the opening stint.

The Mobil 1 Truck Assist Racing No. 2 showed blistering speed in the opening stint, but got stuck in a chain of traffic, limiting his ability to make ground. The Team called an early call to come into the lane for two fresh tyres. A quick stop from the crew, the second fastest stop of the entire race, alongside the undercut gave Ryan track position, but it would be a long stint home where tyre management would be critical.

Chaz brought the Mobil 1 Optus Racing No. 25 in on Lap 16 for four tyres, another quick stop by the crew saw Chaz collect one position in the lane and one with the undercut, coming out effectively P6, with eyes firmly set on a Top 5 finish.

The final stint was a battle of tyre life for Car 2, with Ryan defending against a charge of cars on much fresher rubber, ultimately crossing the line P12.

Lacking car pace, Chaz couldn’t quite clinch P5 and crossed the line P6, up three positions from where he started.

We go again tomorrow, there is still plenty of speed to find in the car overnight so it’s heads down until then.

In the meantime, if you’re at the track make sure you check out the Pro Bull Riding this evening, NTI has gone all out putting on a show for the fans this weekend!

Ryan Wood

“What a stop from the boys today, they have really been working hard to get more consistent in the lane and today’s stop showed it’s paying off.

“A bit disappointed with where we qualified today, it was good to make the top 10 session but we really struggled in that session to put a strong lap down.

We know where we need to improve on for tomorrow, I’m keen for a good nights rest and I’m pumped to go out again.”

Chaz Mostert

“Not a bad start to the weekend here in Townsville, qualifying put us on the back foot a bit for this afternoon’s race.

“We moved a few spots forward during the race, the crew did an awesome stop we just didn’t quite have the pace to be fighting it with the guys up front.

“We will put our heads together tonight before we go again tomorrow.”