Top end pace for Orrcon Steel pair

Frosty 2nd and Richo 3rd in Practice

Mark Winterbottom and Steve Richards have shown tremendous early pace in the Top End during practice for this weekend’s SKYCITY Triple Crown at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway.

Winterbottom, who is this weekend making his 90th event start in the V8 Supercar Championship Series, set the second fastest time aboard the #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon. His time of 1:09.8289 was two one-hundredths of a second behind the fastest of the day set by Jamie Whincup.

Richards’ day started strongly aboard the Orrcon Steel-backed Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon topping the second practice session before finishing the day as the fourth quickest driver in the 29-driver field.

Today’s pace, added to the fact that the Orrcon Steel-backed pair having previously finished one-two at the Hidden Valley venue, they are confident of a top result this weekend.

Tomorrow’s action will consist of qualifying at 11:20am local time followed by the top ten shootout and the opening 120km (42 laps) race. Sunday’s action will incorporate a 20-minute qualifying session at midday and a 200km (69 lap) race beginning at 2:25pm local time.

Mark Winterbottom – #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon
“It was a good day, we made some really good progress. i think the changes we make to the Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon are definitely making more sense after the recent test days,” said Winterbottom.

“I’m pretty happy with how it all ended up, the car felt strong in the race simulation run. Now the aim is to back it up tomorrow.

“I think we’ve proved to a few doubters that FPR won't stay down for long, it is also good for Orrcon Steel and all of our sponsors to show them a bit of promise, hopefully we can turn this into a top result across the weekend.”

Steve Richards – Orrcon Steel-backed #6 Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon
“Today was a pretty good day, we got through a fair raft of things that we wanted to try,” said Richards.

“We have come off the back of a couple of test days where we learnt a bit and put it all to reasonably good use today. The car seems to be reasonably competitive so we’ll see what the weekend brings.

“The good thing is that we’ve now got a good platform to work off tomorrow as today was a pretty good gauge with most people seeming to run a good set of tyres towards the end.”

Event 7 of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series
SKYCITY Triple Crown
Hidden Valley Raceway, Darwin NT

RESULTS: Practice
1. #1 Jamie Whincup 1:09.8066
2. #5 Mark Winterbottom 1:09.8289
3. #7 Todd Kelly 1:09.9989
4. #6 Steve Richards 1:10.0262
5. #18 James Courtney 1:10.0289
6. #4 Alex Davison 1:10.1218
7. #9 Shane Van Gisbergen 1:10.1473
8. #47 Tim Slade 1:10.1562
9. #22 Will Davison 1:10.1612
10. #11 Jason Bargwanna 1:10.2182

V8 Supercar Championship Series Points Standings
After Race 12 of 26
1. James Courtney 1467
2. Jamie Whincup 1353
3. Craig Lowndes 1245
4. Shane van Gisbergen 1164
5. Garth Tander 1116
6. Lee Holdsworth 1110
7. Rick Kelly 1079
8. Mark Winterbottom 1056
9. Michael Caruso 1035
10. Steven Johnson 932
21. Steve Richards 537

ORRCON STEEL STATS – Hidden Valley
Circuit: Hidden Valley Raceway
Location: Darwin, NT
Circuit Length: 2.87 kilometres
Average Speed: 149 km/h
Maximum Speed: 271 km/h
Format: 120km race Saturday and 200km race Sunday
2009 Attendance: 43,119 (three days)
2009 Saturday Pole Position: Jason Richards
2009 Saturday Race Winner: Jamie Whincup
2009 Sunday Pole Position: Garth Tander
2009 Sunday Race Winner: Michael Caruso

Mark Winterbottom
Debut: Event 4 - 2004
Races: 17
Best Qualifying: 1st (2008)
Avg. Qualifying: 6.6
Best Race Result: 1st (R1 - 2008)
Avg. Race Result: 12.5

Steve Richards
Debut: Event 5 - 1999
Races: 32
Best Qualifying: 2nd (2008)
Avg. Qualifying: 12.3
Best Race Result: 1st (R3 - 2008)
Avg. Race Result: 12.0

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Times below are Australian Central Standard Time (GMT + 9.5 hours)
Saturday 19 June 2010
11:20am – 11:40am: Qualifying
12:20pm: Top Ten Shootout
3:35pm: Race 1 (Series Race 13) – 42 laps

Sunday 20 June 2010
12:00pm –12:20am: Qualifying
2:25pm: Race 2 (Series Race 14) – 69 laps

AUS TELEVISION SCHEDULE – SEVEN NETWORK
Times subject to amendment – please check local guides

Saturday 19 June 2010
2:30pm – 5:30pm (V8 Supercars Race 13)

Sunday 20 June 2010
11:30am – 3:00pm in Perth (V8 Supercars Race 14)
1:30pm – 5:00pm in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane (V8 Supercars Race 14)
3:15pm – 5:30pm in Adelaide (V8 Supercars Race 14)

Sunday 20 June 2010 (Replay on Fox Sports 3)
10:00pm – 11:45pm (V8 Supercars Race 13 Highlights)

Monday 21 June 2010 (Replay on Fox Sports 1)
11:30am – 2:00pm (V8 Supercars Race 14 Highlights)