Melbourne SuperSprint
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Saturday Challenging in Tasmania
13 November 2011
Frosty hot off the line
Ford Performance Racing (FPR) has finished fourth and fifth after the 50-lap opening race of the Tasmania Challenge with Mark Winterbottom leading home Will Davison. The day started well for the team as all three cars carried their strong form from practice and each was in the hunt for pole in the ultra-close session. Winterbottom fared best and claimed second, a mere 0.03s from pole, while Paul Dumbrell also narrowly missed pole and was third, just 0.07s off P1. Will Davison qualified close behind in seventh, though Dumbrell was given a three-place grid penalty when he was deemed to have blocked another driver during the session which elevated Davison to fifth and demoted Dumbrell to sixth. Winterbottom made his customary great start and easily cleared pole-sitter Jamie Whincup to lead the opening laps while Dumbrell and Davison ran side-by-side for much of the opening two laps with Davison eventually getting by to claim fifth place. Dumbrell dropped from sixth to seventh when a brake issue cost him time on lap six. Winterbottom led the race until lap 11 when he was passed by Whincup then Davison pitted shortly after at the end of lap 16 and changed only his right-side tyres in an effort to vault him up the order – a move Dumbrell mirrored. Winterbottom was the last factory Ford to pit at the end of lap 18, though a slow stop and being forced to wait for cars in pit lane cost him positions. Davison’s strategy allowed him to get ahead of three drivers, moving him from fifth to second after the rest of the field completed its pit stops while Winterbottom found himself fifth while Dumbrell was eighth. The safety car was deployed on lap 24 to recover an errant wheel bunching the field before action resumed on lap 27. Davison narrowly avoided being an innocent victim when Shane van Gisbergen went within inches of colliding with him, however the error allowed Mark Winterbottom to move into fourth. Davison succumbed to Lowndes on lap 42 and dropped to third and then three laps later Winterbottom ran deep at the hairpin which allowed Garth Tander through. He got a run on Davison and passed him at the end of the back straight where Winterbottom also slipped by his team-mate. Dumbrell dropped from his long-held eighth place to 12th on lap 46 when a group of four cars passed him down the back straight and in the final turns of the lap. Winterbottom and Davison came home close together in fourth and fifth, the haul of points allowing Winterbottom to further close the gap to third in the championship. DRIVERS’ VIEW
Mark Winterbottom – #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon Race 23: 4th – Fastest Lap: 52.05s Winterbottom championship position: 4th – 2086 points Winterbottom: “We had a fair bit of understeer so I struggled with the car, but we will fix that for tomorrow. The time we lost in the pit stop cost us dearly as a bad stop here causes a big loss of positions so that didn’t help. I then closed on the guys ahead and got into a few battles for position and Garth (Tander) slipped by at the end. We just need to tidy the car up a bit and we’ll be fine.” Will Davison – #6 Tradingpost FPR Falcon Davison championship position: 6th – 1958 points Davison: “I’m disappointed not to hang onto the podium after the strategy we chose. I made an ok start and then had a great battle with PD for the first two laps. I then settled into a rhythm and we had the pace of the leaders, but we struggled in the hairpin though we were strong everywhere else. We then went out on a limb with our strategy by only taking two tyres which gained us a lot of track position. The safety car wasn’t great as it lost me my lead and allowed everyone on four fresh tyres to close up. I hung on for a long time but did the best I could with two tyres than had ran the whole race.” Paul Dumbrell – #55 The Bottle-O FPR Falcon Race 23: 13th – Fastest lap: 52.12ss Dumbrell championship position: 24th – 1078 points Dumbrell: “From the outset we had a wheel issue which affected the brakes so our race was tough from the start. We were compromised from there but I just didn’t have the race pace I’d expected. I then got involved in a few incidents which was a disappointing way to end what had looked like a good day for the whole team. It is another day tomorrow so we’ll come back and try again.” Tim Edwards – FPR Team Principal 2011 V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP TASMANIA CHALLENGE RACE 23 – RESULTS: 1) Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight 2) Craig Lowndes – Triple Eight 3) Garth Tander – HRT 4) Mark Winterbottom – Ford Performance Racing 5) Will Davison – Ford Performance Racing 13) Paul Dumbrell – Ford Performance Racing 2011 V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVER POINTS AFTER RACE 23 1) Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight: 2667 points 2) Craig Lowndes – Triple Eight: 2512 3) Shane van Gisbergen – Stone Brothers Racing: 2105 4) Mark Winterbottom – Ford Performance Racing: 2086 5) Garth Tander – HRT: 2085 6) Will Davison – Ford Performance Racing: 1958 24) Paul Dumbrell – Ford Performance Racing: 1078 2011 V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM POINTS TABLE AFTER RACE 23 1) Triple Eight: 5204 points 2) Ford Performance Racing: 4069 3) Stone Brothers Racing: 3817
Qualifying: 2nd – 51.38s
Qualifying: 7th – 51.54s
Race 23: 5th – Fastest lap: 52.18s
Qualifying: 3rd – 51.42s
“Today’s result is not really what we have worked so hard for. Qualifying was as close as we expected and there was no shame in Frosty and PD missing pole as their margin was tiny. Frosty made a great start and Will’s early stop meant he gained some ground on his rivals with an innovative strategy. PD and Frosty came in on the same lap but Mark was unlucky to lose time in pit lane. Time loss here punishes you far worse than anywhere else. He and Will then ran at the front for the rest of the race. We should have scored a podium but with some work tonight we want to come out and finish what we started so well yesterday.”
