Tough finish to FPR's Grand Prix Weekend

Frosty's had no brakes

Ford Performance Racing’s (FPR) Mark Winterbottom and Steve Richards had a disappointing finish to their Grand Prix weekend with Winterbottom retiring due to a brake issue and Richards suffering the effects of a turn one skirmish in the closing stages undermining what was otherwise a good weekend for the Campbellfield outfit.

After suffering wheelspin off the start line, HRT’s Will Davison jumped Frosty for 5^th place and from there things didn’t get much better for the Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon pilot.

“The car was just coming good and then we had the safety car for (Tony) Ricciardello’s off – as soon as we went green again the brake pedal just went to the floor – similar to the situation Richo faced during qualifying earlier this week.

“I hit Ricciardello’s oil at turn nine, locking me up, spearing me off and causing a flat spot … that coupled with a long brake pedal made any further progress in the race pretty much impossible,,” Winterbottom said.

Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon racer Steve Richards also fell victim to bad luck although managed to make up some more ground in the final race finishing the weekend in 12^th place – making his way 16 places through the field over the course off the weekend.

“It was disappointing we had the brake issue to start the weekend off … it really put me behind the eight-ball but we managed to make a pretty good gain over the three races,” Richards said.

Richard’s started the race in strong form initially hustling Greg Murphy and Todd Kelly for a top ten place but just when things were looking good for the Ford driver, an incident from the start of the race came back to haunt him.

“I got tagged by Tim Slade at the start which did some damage to my rear spoiler and it wasn’t a problem for most of the race but towards the end it started come loose and act as a parachute which was costing me about a tenth of a second a lap … that’s how Lee (Holdsworth) caught me in the closing laps,” he added.

 Richards and Winterbottom now start their preparations for the next round of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship to be held in Hamilton, New Zealand from the 15-19 April.