Fight for three begins

8 October 2015

Prodrive aim to win 3 consecutive Bathurst races.

The Pepsi Max Crew begins its fight for three consecutive Bathurst 1000 wins when the team returns to The Mountain as two-time defending champions. 

The current championship leaders will take a total of six cars to the event, including the Harvey Norman Supergirls wildcard entry, piloted by Renee Gracie and Simona de Silvestro, and Cameron Water's ENZED-backed Dunlop Series Ford. 

Cam will once again perform double duties while co-driving with Chaz, sighting commitment as the biggest requirement at the challenging track. 

Chaz, last year's Bathurst winner has his sights set on a fast qualifying time, having never competed in a top-ten shootout at the track. Despite having won from last, he still believes practice and qualifying will be crucial to finding race speed. 

2013 victor Frosty will put the championship out of his mind to focus on a second Bathurst 1000 victory; hungry to keep the Peter Brock Trophy at PRA headquarters. 

Also a Bathurst veteran, co-driver Steve Owen will bring a wealth of experience to Frosty's Bathurst challenge, with the hope of taking home his first Bathurst crown. 

Mark Winterbottom - #5 Pepsi Max PRA Ford:
"I can't wait. Bathurst is the race that you look forward to all year. It's the most enjoyable event and the most rewarding as well. This year we're leading the points and I think it's the first time I've ever lead going into Bathurst points wise, I've always been close but this year we've got a good margin. You've almost got to forget about that and try and win the race because it's just how important it is so we'll be going there and trying to win it. I've got a really good co-driver in Steve and he's never won it before and I know he's pretty hungry to win it. We've got a good car, we're in good shape and have good confidence and we've won the last two years as a team so it'll be good going there."

Steve Owen - #5 Pepsi Max PRA Ford:
"After a pretty good run at Sandown I'm excited to get back in the car. It's always great to drive at Bathurst and to help Mark with his championship fight is good to be a part of as well. It's a good challenge but this weekend we'll just be focussing on Bathurst. It's something that I've been striving for, for a while and it's something I'd like to win for Mark as well. We have a good car and a good team so it's not impossible."

Chaz Mostert - #6 Pepsi Max PRA Ford:
"I'm really looking forward to going to Bathurst this year. Obviously I had the win last year and our results this year have been pretty awesome. We've got a good track record going into Bathurst this year. Obviously trying to defend it will be the hardest thing but I've got full faith in the team. The FG X has been as fast as ever at recent rounds so I really enjoy going around that place, as does every other driver in the category but it's pretty special trying to defend the crown this year. We'll just have to wait and see how we roll out and see where we end up. Cam is a very quick young driver and he drove a great race at Sandown so it'll be great to see what he can do around Bathurst."

Cameron Waters - #6 Pepsi Max PRA Ford:
"It's pretty cool to be racing at Bathurst with Chaz this year. We'll be trying to defend his Bathurst crown and I've got a pretty big part to play in his championship now, being his co-driver. I'm doing double duties in the Dunlop Series as well. I did it last year and managed to do okay so it's not too much of a big deal. Hopefully I can go up there and get some good results for the team and for Chaz and keep it clean."

Tim Edwards – Team Principal: 
"It's always fantastic to return to Bathurst. It's great to have all the fans out and about supporting us and this year especially the support will be more important than ever. We're doing well in the championship holding the top three spots but this race is just as important and we'd love to keep that trophy downstairs in the cabinet for another year. I know we've got the right people for the job across all of our departments so we have everything we need to do the job on race day.

DUNLOP SERIES PREVIEW
The Dunlop Series finally returns at Bathurst for the penultimate race of the season after having not competed since Ipswich in August. Current Dunlop Series leader Cameron Waters is confident of a strong showing at the second ever series endurance race after finishing second there last year. Waters will get plenty of practice time across the weekend, competing alongside Chaz Mostert in the V8 Supercars race. 

Cameron Waters - #5 ENZED PRA Ford:
"It'll be great to get back in my Dunlop series car. Recently I've been doing more driving in the main series car after Sandown but we had two days of testing not long ago which has put me back in sync and it'll be great to get back into it. I've got a bit of experience at the track but you never know what's going to happen there so we’ll have to wait and see what the weekend throws at us."

EVENT NAME: Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 
DATE: 9 -12 October   
LOCATION: Bathurst, New South Wales
EVENT NUMBER: 10 of 14
FORMAT: Thursday – 3 x 45-minute practice; Friday – 2 x 45 practice, 1 x 40min qualifying; Saturday – 1 x 45min practice, 1 x Top 10 Shootout; Sunday - 1 x 20min warm-up, 1 x 161-lap race

CIRCUIT: Mount Panorama 
LENGTH: 6.21-kilometres
DESCRIPTION: The fastest of all V8 Supercar circuits, with cars reaching close to 300kph along Conrod Straight, Bathurst has it all. From a tight and twisting climb to the top of the mountain, to a fast flip / flop ride down that rewards bravery behind the wheel. Regarded as the best circuit in Australia, Bathurst is without a doubt a complex engineering exercise considering two drivers need to be comfortable with the car set-up and the race lasts for more than six hours. 
TRACK RECORD: 2m07.4913s - Chaz Mostert (2014)
PRA BEST RESULT: 
Qualifying: 1st – Mark Winterbottom, 2007/10; Will Davison, 2012
Race: 1st – Mark Winterbottom/Steven Richards (2013), Chaz Mostert/P

- See more at: http://www.prodriveracing.com.au/news/2015/10/06/fight-for-three-begins#sthash.79nwCWNR.dpuf