Fifth straight top 10 start for Winterbottom at Bathurst

Frosty qualifies 4th

Mark Winterbottom has qualified for his fifth straight Top Ten Shootout at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 after setting the fourth fastest time in qualifying at Mount Panorama today.

The 29 year-old steered the #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon around the world famous 6.213km circuit in a time of 2m07.4562s, which was less than 0.5 seconds behind the time set by provisional pole sitter Jason Bright.

While pleased to have qualified inside the top ten, Winterbottom believes there is still some more pace to come for tomorrow’s shootout where he will be aiming to secure the second Bathurst pole position of his career.

Winterbottom’s co-driver Luke Youlden also put in an impressive performance throughout the day by setting the second fastest time during the co-driver practice session.

Steve Richards maintained his record of qualifying in the top 15 for every one of his 13 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 starts by setting the 14th fastest time during this afternoon’s qualifying session.

Richards and the FPR crew made improvements overnight to the set up of the Orrcon Steel-backed #6 Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon which saw him set the ninth fastest time during the second session of the day.

Richard’s co-driver James Moffat, who is completing double duties also competing in the Fujitsu Series where he finished fourth in today's race, put in a solid effort to record the 15th fastest time this morning.

A further practice session will be held tomorrow morning ahead of the Top Ten Shootout in the afternoon.. The 161-lap race will fire into action at 10:30am Sunday morning.

QUOTES FROM THE DRIVERS

Mark Winterbottom – #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon
“Today wasn’t a bad day. Qualifying was the first real crack I had on good tyres and was also the first run that qualifying trim that we'd done,” said Winterbottom.

“I think I could have done a (2minue) 7.1 if I got it all right but if's and but’s and maybe’s don’t count for much. We'll turn up tomorrow and make sure there's no if's and but's as you can't leave anything on the table - it's got to be a good lap to get pole tomorrow.

“We’ve seen in the past that you can win this race from pit lane, we've made it a little bit easier knowing that we're in the top ten.

“Tomorrow's glory day, I want to put it on pole for the team, it was such a good feeling in '07 but then we have to finish the job that we didn't do there and get the win on Sunday.”

Luke Youlden – #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon
"We had a good day I was second fastest in my session and the Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon was very quick,” said Youlden.

“It was my first time on a decent set of tyres, before that were were concentrating on longer type runs and full tanks. It was good to get a run on green tyres.

“I did that time on my first lap on green tyres, so I'm pretty happy with that. Then we started tuning the car up for Mark to do his qualifying run.

“Obviously we'd like to be fastest but we've got the shootout to come and anything can happen there. I think we'll have a couple of little tweaks for the shootout and Mark will stick it on the front row.”

Steve Richards – Orrcon Steel-backed #6 Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon
“The car is definitely better than yesterday but not quite in the top ten which is always what you're aiming for which is a bit disappointing,” said Richards.

“We'll go and cruise along in the race to get in a good position while aiming to keep it on the black stuff until lap 120 and then have a bit of a race of it.”

James Moffat – Orrcon Steel-backed #6 Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon
"It's been pretty hectic changing suits and uniforms and everything else. It is also a bit more difficult as the cars aren't quite as close as I'd like them so it takes a bit of adjusting when you get into each car,” said Moffat.

“We went through some more changes in the set-up during my session and started to get a bit more of a direction. Richo did a good job in qualifying to get a reasonable starting spot for Sunday and there is still a long way to go.”

Event 10 of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000
Bathurst, NSW

RESULTS: Qualifying
1. #14 Jason Bright 2:07.0002
2. #888 Craig Lowndes 2:07.0069
3. #1 Jamie Whincup 2:07.3663
4. #5 Mark Winterbottom 2:07.4526
5. #33 Lee Holdsworth 2:07.4687
6. #18 James Courtney 2:07.7278
7. #22 Will Davison 2:07.7375
8. #2 Garth Tander 2:07.7899
9. #51 Greg Murphy 2:07.8646
10. #55 Paul Dumbrell 2:07.8717
14. #6 Steve Richards 2:08.1161

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Times below are Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time (GMT + 11 hours)

Saturday 9 October 2010
10:00am – 10:50am – Practice 6
3:45pm – 4:30pm – Top Ten Shootout

Sunday 10 October 2010
8:00am – 8:20am – Warm Up
10:30am – Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 (161 laps)

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

Saturday 9 October 2010
12:00pm – 5:00pm: Seven (Top 10 Shootout and Support Categories)
5:00pm – 6:00pm: 7mate (Battle of Bathurst)

Sunday 10 October 2010
6:00am – 7:00am: Seven (Battle of Bathurst)
NSW/VIC: 7:00am – 6:00pm: Seven (2010 Bathurst 1000)
SA: 6:30am – 5:30pm: Seven (2010 Bathurst 1000)
QLD: 6:00am – 5:00pm: Seven (2010 Bathurst 1000)
WA: 4:00am – 3:00pm: Seven (2010 Bathurst 1000)