It’s been a great start to the weekend with Chaz Mostert securing a podium finish on Saturday in Tasmania.

On track action started Friday afternoon with an hour practice session where the cars rolled out a couple of tenths behind, the crew put their heads together overnight before Saturday’s qualifying session.

The clouds scattered away before qualifying and the track quickly started to dry, it’s one of the toughest qualifying sessions of the year with 24 cars spread across a 51 second lap.

Both cars made it through to Part-3 of qualifying after a red flag ended Part-2 early, Chaz set the fifth fastest time with Ryan starting right behind him on the grid in P7, putting them both in the hunt.

As the lights went out for Race 17, dark clouds were looming putting a question mark on whether it would rain.

The Mobil 1 Optus Racing No. 25 and the Mobil 1 Truck Assist Racing No. 2 had good starts maintaining positions, keeping their eyes forward for the first part of the race.

Car 2 was first in the field to pit, coming in on lap 13 for two tyres, taking the undercut approach coming out in clean air for one lap with the cars around him following his lead.

Chaz came in mid-way through the race, the only of the leaders to take three tyres which cost time in the pits he would need to make up on the track.

The Mobil 1 Optus Racing No. 25 was on the charge forward towards the end of the race, on the edge of our seats with six laps to go, Chaz flew down the inside of Feeney for P2.

It would be a chase against the clock to take the final step of the podium, with Chaz ultimately running out of laps on the rear bumper of the car in front, crossing the line P2.

Struggling for pace towards the end of the race, Ryan got caught in battles, crossing the line P11, knocking on the door of a top 10 finish.

An awesome result for the team, some big improvements on car pace across the weekend so far with more work to be done overnight.

Chaz Mostert

“Awesome day in Tassie, didn’t expect to qualify fifth but really happy with that, that in itself felt like a win if I’m honest.

“The team did a fantastic job today, we ran with a different strategy than everyone else but it really complimented our cars, a real credit to the team, they got me the podium today.

“Bit of work for us to do overnight, we’ve got lots of data to go through, we still need to tune up the quali car so we can start up the front again tomorrow.”

Ryan Wood

“It was pretty cool to qualify in the top 10 today, the team have done a heap of work over the break to tune these cars up and they’ve done an awesome job.

“Another big learning day, I’ve never been to this track before so pretty happy to be knocking on the top 10 for my first race here, a big congrats to Chaz and the team for the podium.

“Overall, really happy with the progress we have made this weekend, there is still more work to do so we will tune the car up overnight and come back stronger tomorrow.”