Frosty takes race three

Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom took his first victory of the season today at Eastern Creek; an incredible fight-back from Ford Performance Racing after he qualified 15th in yesterday’s V8 Supercar Championship qualifying at the Sydney circuit.
The revival began in today’s first race, when Frosty rocketed from 10th to fourth off the grid and passed James Courtney to run in third before he had even completed a lap.

Another great start in this afternoon’s second race saw the 26-year-old snatch the lead off the grid and lead from start to finish.

His team-mate, Steven Richards, made up 20 places in the 31 laps of this morning’s race and was set to pull off a similarly astounding feat this afternoon, running fifth in the closing stages. Disaster struck on lap 24, however, when his front left tyre expired. He could only watch-on as the tyre barrier approached with the collision, estimated to be at 160kph, leaving the #6 Castrol FPR Falcon a write-off.

The team is now assessing its options before next weekend’s Australian GP round, in which the V8s are supporting.

Mark Winterbottom rlectecd on the weekend: “Yesterday, after qualifying, we almost booked an early flight home for today because we didn’t think we’d be here! To fight back to win the way we did is sometimes better than a win!

“We did a lot of work and got the cars quicker and to finish 10th, second and first is an incredible achievement and we did it with genuine speed today.”

Steven Richards driving the Castrol FPR Falcon said: “About three corners before on the previous lap, at about Turn Seven, I noticed the car had a bit of a wobble and under-steer in that last race; I thought I had a flat tyre. It seemed to be OK on the straight so I didn’t come in.

“Whatever happened let go the next lap on Turn Three. I went around the corner and the front fell over a bit and then it took its own direction. I don’t know how to measure one accident against another but it was pretty rough; they all are when you hit the wall though. I don’t have too many of them fortunately but this time there’s terrible damage to the car; that’s going to take a while to get fixed.”

FPR Team Principal Tim Edwards couldn’t have been happier: “I’m absolutely elated with the win but it goes to show you the highs and lows of a weekend. The other car was on for a fantastic result today; a fifth place finish after starting race two from 27th on the grid. Obviously the great news is that Steve was OK but we’ve left ourselves with a lot of work to do. The car will be a total right-off; probably $400,000.

“Overall though, we had a fantastic result today; full credit to the team, drivers and crew, after they picked themselves up after yesterday’s disappointment.”