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Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom credits his
first Clipsal 500 podium to team strategy after a stroke of genius from Ford
Performance Racing (FPR) launched him into today’s V8 Supercar race
lead.
The Prodrive-run team kept the 26-year-old
out for an extended second stint, which saw him rejoin in front of previous race
leader Craig Lowndes. Winterbottom maintained position for 31 laps in the Ford
Falcon, holding off the best efforts of first Lowndes and then Jamie Whincup,
but a controversial move from Whincup on the penultimate lap saw the 888 driver
take the race win.
Frosty, who finished second, says the
result only makes him more determined to register his name among the winners’
circle of the iconic Clipsal 500, which is this year celebrating its 10th
anniversary.
FPR’s Steven Richards fought up the order
from ninth on the grid to run in a strong third place after his second pit stop.
Tyre wear, however, meant he could not hold back a charging Whincup, who also
let Lee Holdsworth through to put Richards fifth.
#5 Mark Winterbottom
Orrcon Ford Credit FPR
Falcon
“When Craig got behind me after the second
stop I was pretty much just holding him there. Our brakes went away a little bit
and that cost us a bit of time at the end but if the safety car hadn’t come out
on lap 70 bunching us all up again I could have been on the top step today.
“In the end, though, FPR believes this is
our weakest round and yet we’re starting in P2 tomorrow so I’m looking forward
to seeing what the other rounds can bring! We’ve got points in round one and we
know the second half of the season will be strong for us so I’m happy with
today’s result.
“In terms of Jamie’s pass, I feel I got
pushed out the way but he probably feels differently. I’m not going to complain
about it; you just move on. We’ll have a good night’s sleep tonight; we’ve got a
bottle of champagne to help with that, which is always good!"
#6 Steven Richards
Castrol FPR Falcon
“I’m pretty sure we stopped early relative
to Jamie Whincup so when he came out of the pits I had ten laps more on my tyres
plus the car was working its rear tyres very hard. I couldn’t sustain the pace.
I had a little slide and that allowed both Jamie and Lee Holdsworth up the
inside of me.
“I’m starting fifth tomorrow. The car is
fast enough; I think we had the second fastest lap of the race so we just need
to make it hang its tyres in a bit more. With a couple of good pit stops and
good strategy and if the driver keeps it on the black stuff, we could end up
with that win!”
FPR Team Principal, Tim
Edwards
“We have
broad guidelines for strategy before the race but we have to react to things as
they happen. Today we had our game plan, which we played out. By lap 46, when we
took the lead, it certainly made the last laps feel like about 125! Frosty was
very calm though. Prior to the safety car on about lap 70 we were keeping Mark
up to date with Craig’s times and he just adjusted his pace to
match.
“We finished last season very strong and
all of our quotes to the media since then have been to the effect that we intend
to start as strong as we finished. I think we’ve demonstrated that today. Coming
out of the box so strong puts us in a great position for the rest of the year.
Our target tomorrow is to have both drivers in the top five again and then we’ll
be in a very strong position for the rest of ’08.”
CLIPSAL 500 ADELAIDE - RACE 1
2008 V8
SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP
1. Jamie Whincup (888, Ford Falcon
BF)
2. Mark Winterbottom
(Ford Performance Racing, Ford Falcon BF)
3. Craig Lowndes (888, Ford Falcon BF)
4. Lee Holdsworth (Gary Rogers Motorsport,
Holden Commodore VE)
5. Steven Richards (Ford Performance Racing, Ford Falcon
BF)
6. Steven Johnson
(Jim Beam Racing, Ford Falcon BF)
7. Will Davison (Jim Beam Racing, Ford Falcon BF)
8. Rick Kelly (HSV Dealer Team, Holden
Commodore VE)
9. Mark Skaife
(Toll Holden Racing Team, Holden Commodore VE 5000)
10. James Courtney (Jeld-Wen Motorsport, Ford Falcon
BF)
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