Frosty's Fever

Frosty on Provisional Pole

Ford Performance Racing’s smashed side mirrors said it all this afternoon after the drivers used every millimetre of Surfers Paradise to claim provisional pole and eighth.

Mark Winterbottom is still recovering from Glandular Fever making his fastest time of 1:49.2866 even more impressive in the Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon.

“I feel alright at the moment, just a bit more tired than I’d usually be,” said Frosty. “Putting the car where we did is definitely a good injection for tomorrow. 

“The speed was good today; the car was working really well around here and it’s great to put the car back up the front. The guys have had a busy nine days since Bathurst; they’ve slogged their guts out so this is a great reward.”

Team-mate Steve Richards says tomorrow’s Top Ten Shoot-Out will be another high-stakes exercise in precision driving, with the vital Nikon SuperGP front row starting positions up for grabs.

“The car’s pretty good,” he said. “The second set of tyres didn’t have as much front grip so we were down a little bit on pace but we made it into the top ten pretty comfortably still.

“Doing a top ten shoot out around a street track like Surfers could be pretty intimidating, but if you want to move forwards on the grid, we’ve got to have a go. The car’s got no side mirrors after today’s session and it’s got to be the same tomorrow!”

Cars will be on track from 09:00.

2009 Nikon SuperGP - Races 19 & 20
SURFERS PARADISE STREET CIRCUIT
V8 Supercar Series Qualifying
1. M Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon, 1:49.2866*
2. Jamie Whincup, 888, +0.1930
3. Russell Ingall, PMM, +0.3614
4. James Courtney, DJR, +0.3672
5. Garth Tander, HRT, +0.4335
6. Will Davison, HRT, +0.4407
7. Paul Dumbrell, TWR, +0.4797
8. Steven Richards, Castrol FPR Falcon, +.4850