Four Podiums For Ford Mustangs At Symmons Plains
The Ford Mustangs were the supercars to beat in Tasmania with the return of the Repco Supercars Championship to the Apple Isle.
Cam Waters was a quick contender in his Monster Energy Tickford Racing Ford Mustang, taking a pair of pole positions on a weekend when youngster Anton De Pasquale joined the Blue Oval honour roll with his first Supercars podium finish.
Mustangs took four podium places over three races in the Tasmania SuperSprint, with veteran Will Davison also picking up two trophies.
The strong showing of the Shell V-Power Racing Team drivers, De Pasquale and Davison, has lifted the defending teams’ champions to second in this year’s standings.
Waters continues as the best of the Mustang runners with fourth spot in the drivers’ championship, ahead of Davison and David Reynolds in his first year as a Mustang racer with Kelly Grove Racing.
“What a weekend of racing – really strong performances from both Will and Anton for Shell V-Power Racing, and back-to-back pole positions from Cam on Sunday,” said Andrew Birkic, president and CEO, Ford Australia and New Zealand. “A fitting way to celebrate Mustang’s 57th birthday over the weekend.”
The Repco Supercars Championship continues at Tailem Bend outside Adelaide on 8-9 May with the OTR SuperSprint.
Tim Edwards, Tickford Racing
“We’ve got a good qualifying car with Cam Waters, but we’re struggling a bit for race pace. We just don’t have the pace over the race distance.
“The problem was tyre life at this particular venue. It treats the car differently to other tracks we go to.
“ James Courtney had phenomenal race pace and came charging through but didn’t qualify well enough.”
Ben Croke, Shell V-Power Racing
“It was a good weekend for us. Very good.
“To get both cars on the podium at the same time is a good reward for the effort that’s been going on in the background at the team.
“The drivers are getting more understanding of the car and we’re getting a good understanding of them and how they work.”
Todd Kelly, Kelly Grove Racing
“This weekend was a bit of a wobble but we learned heaps. Both cars finished the weekend straight and we managed to get some good points.
“We hadn’t been here for a few years and never in a Mustang, so we were up against it with new cars and some new parts in the cars.
“The changes progressed Dave but knocked Andre’s results around a fair bit. So we were working hard to keep them both happy.
“We’re still heading in the right direction, even if we didn’t make as much progress as we all wanted in Tassie.”
Tim Blanchard, CoolDrive Racing
“We had highs and lows over the weekend, and struggled a bit in qualifying.
“There were a few brake issues on Saturday that hampered us and we were playing catch-up from there.
“We had good race pace and were able to move forward. When you have two 12th places and everyone is a bit disappointed that’s a good sign of how everything is going.”
Championship standings:
- Cam Waters: 4th
- Will Davison: 5th
- David Reynolds: 7th
- Anton de Pasquale: 8th
- Andre Heimgartner: 11th
- Jack Le Brocq: 15th
- James Courtney: 16th
- Tim Slade: 21st