DJR not blaming parity for slump

The powerhouse Ford squad has endured an uncharacteristically patchy start to the Gen3 era with little in the way of top results to show from the four rounds so far this season.

As it stands Will Davison sits ninth in the standings, his best result a fifth in Tasmania last weekend – although he did lose a podium in Melbourne due to a post-race penalty.

Anton De Pasquale, meanwhile, is mired down in 18th in the standings, also with a best result of fifth.

As for the teams' championship, DJR is currently seventh.

One significantly complicating factor is parity, with question marks still hanging over the competitiveness of the Ford package, particularly the motor.

DJR is not just affected as a team running Fords, but also as the Blue Oval's homologation team, with Perry Kapper still heavily involved in the Gen3 programme.

However CEO David Noble is letting that act as a blanket excuse for his team's lack of form, given fellow Ford teams Tickford Racing, Walkinshaw Andretti United and Grove Racing are head of DJR in the teams' standings.

"It's two-fold; we've still got to keep working on what we need to learn about the cars to get the set-ups right," Noble told Motorsport.com.

"We made a clear distinction, about six or seven weeks ago, to get in and focus on what we can do, and try and keep the parity discussions and the homologation team duties a little bit separate, to make sure we didn't get distracted around two things that may not help us on race day.

"We've still got work to do, there's no doubt. We're appreciative of what Supercars has been doing [with parity]. Perry has been working his backside off to help bring it to life, and get the incremental improvements that we need.

"But we've got to get our own backyard in order as well."

Noble highlighted qualifying as a particular issue, with Davison and De Pasquale having just a single single-digit starting spot between them in Tasmania.

"With the shorter tracks it's about getting in the right spot with quali," he said.

"We had a couple of good efforts over the weekend where we were able to grab some spots back, but we're starting from too far back.

"We've got to get the cars in the right window to qualify them better, and then give them a chance to see what they can do."

The relative slump in form hasn't taken its toll on team morale, though, with Noble impressed with the work being shown by his drivers and crew.

"It's what builds resilience; it's littered through sport," he said.

"We've got to keep taking our learnings and push to get better. That's what the team has been built on.

"When you look at our history, and our legacy, it's about digging in when the times get tough and finding ways to create wins."