Mark Winterbottom: ”Fourth doesn’t bother me”

Mark Winterbottom looked set to challenge Jamie Whincup for the V8 Supercars title as the season reached the final part of the season. But the Ford Performance Racing driver never got close enough and dropped to fourth overall, passed by team mate Will Davison.
”To be honest third or fourth overall doesn’t really bother me as neither spot ends with me getting the prize I was aiming for,” said Winterbottom.

Winterbottom’s chances faded in the first race of the season finale in Sydney as he clashed with Whincup’s team mate Craig Lowndes, just as in the race at Phillip Island.
”I went hard yesterday and that cost me but I’ve finished third for the last three years so I did all I could to win the championship,” said Winterbottom.

While Winterbottom missed out on the overall podium, his season has been quite strong, especially at mid-point, with three victories and 13 podium finishes.
”Overall we had a good year filled with ups and downs and while it was a pretty eventful weekend, I really just wanted to give my engineer James (Small) a fitting send off before he moved overseas to NASCAR. We didn’t quite do that but we won Bathurst together so the year has been far from a bad one,” said Winterbottom.