Pole position drives Orrcon Steel-backed FPR team
Sunday, May 22nd, 2011
Mark Winterbottom set the 18th pole position of his career today at Winton
Mark Winterbottom has warned that the Orrcon Steel-backed Ford Performance Racing team should not be written off in 2011 – his pole position for today’s race giving the whole team a morale boost, despite a less than ideal race.
Winterbottom was elated with the 18th pole position of his career. He used the changeable conditions to his advantage – setting pole in the dying moments of the session.
The race didn’t go to plan though, the #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon struggling for speed and tyre life, eventually finishing down the order in 19th.
Winterbottom has vowed the team will get through this tough period and cited last year as the motivation to see them continually working towards the Championship goal.
The race started well for Winterbottom, muscling Championship leader Jamie Whincup out of the way in the run to turn one and led for the first few laps.
After a Safety Car for a multi-car incident that involved team-mate, Will Davison, Winterbottom was then overtaken by the chasing pack and was unable to move forward.
Davison felt confident that he could have made progress in the race having stuck with an experimental qualifying setup that placed him 14th for the race start. The 28-year-old Melbourne racer and his crew made some drastic changes for the 67 lap encounter, but they were unable to see what effect they would have had on his overall position.
On lap three, Davison was spun in an incident with Lee Holdsworth and Todd Kelly caused massive damage to the Orrcon Steel-backed #6 Trading Post FPR Falcon. After five laps in the pits to repair the damage, Davison re-joined and finished well down the order.
The team will now re-group and head to Darwin for the next event in the V8 Supercar Championship – the SKYCITY Triple Crown across the weekend of June 17-19.
Davison sits eighth in the Championship – 421 behind Championship leader, Jamie Whincup and Winterbottom is sitting 10th, 437 from the point.
In Saturday’s opening encounter, Winterbottom finished ninth and Davison 13th. Whincup took out the Saturday race before Jason Bright ran him down in a thrilling finish to Sunday’s proceedings.
QUOTES FROM THE DRIVERS:
Mark Winterbottom – #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon
“The car was very good on one lap, pole position is a big thing to get the morale back within the team,” he said. “It was a good start to the day, but the race didn’t pan out as we wanted.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with the car, we have to pull it apart and see what’s going on. The car speed is very good over the single lap, which we showed this morning and there’s no reason why we can’t turn that into a 20-lap stint.
“We haven’t dropped the bottom lip, we’re staying positive and looking for the win in a couple rounds time. The fans and sponsors are all supportive and are staying with us, we can turn it around.
“There’s a $2,500 cheque sitting in the truck that we earned this morning that we’ll focus on and use to drive us.
“Don’t write our team off, we showed last year that we could bounce back and be in the hunt for the Championship. One thing you can never do is write this team off, stay with us, we’ll get there!”
Will Davison – #6 Trading Post FPR Falcon
“Both Frosty and I tried an experimental setup in qualifying yesterday, which Paul (Dumbrell) didn’t use and it worked for him.
“Frosty pretty much copied Paul for qualifying today and at the very last moment, I decided to stick with the experimental setup.
“After qualifying where we did, we changed a lot for the race, but didn’t get the chance to put the strategy into action.
“We got turned around by Lee Holdsworth early in the race and then cleaned up by Todd Kelly and then just had to do what we could from there.”
V8 Supercars Race 10 Results – Saturday, May 21, 2011:
1. Jamie Whincup
2. Lee Holdsworth
3. Steven Johnson
4. Rick Kelly
5. Paul Dumbrell
6. Alex Davison
7. Jason Bright
8. James Courtney
9. Mark Winterbottom
10. Fabian Coulthard
13. Will Davison
V8 Supercars Race 11 Results – Sunday, May 22, 2011:
1. Jason Bright
2. Jamie Whincup
3. Garth Tander
4. Shane Van Gisbergen
5. Fabian Coulthard
6. Michael Caruso
7. Craig Lowndes
8. Steven Johnson
9. James Moffat
10. Steve Owen
19. Mark Winterbottom
24. Will Davison
V8 Supercars Championship – After 5 of 14 events:
1. Jamie Whincup 1234
2. Craig Lowndes 972
3. Garth Tander 935
4. Jason Bright 920
5. Shane Van Gisbergen 913
6. Rick Kelly 887
7. Alex Davison 825
8. Will Davison 813
9. Steven Johnson 808
10. Mark Winterbottom 797
