Frosty tops the times in wet conditions

20 November 2015

The Pepsi Max Crew's Mark Winterbottom has topped the tables in the final practice session at the Phillip Island SuperSprint and finished fourth overall for the day despite both sessions being plagued by rain. 

The fastest times were set in the first, hour-long session where conditions dried enough for the team to use slick tyres. 

Winterbottom held his ground as conditions improved across the first session, finishing fourth overall before setting a fast time early in the final session. 

He and teammate Cameron Waters spent some of the second session out of the car while waiting to see if conditions improve. Waters was the only one to re-join from the Pepsi Max garage with 15 minutes to go.

Despite not having raced at the Phillip Island circuit in some time, Waters quickly acclimatised to the car and the wet track, posting impressive times as the session went on before eventually finishing 14th in the first and ninth in the second. 

Both drivers are hoping for fry conditions ahead of tomorrow's two qualifying sessions and afternoon sprint races.

DRIVERS’ VIEW
#5 Pepsi Max PRA Ford – Mark Winterbottom:
 4th – 1m32.30s
"It was a good day. I think the conditions were pretty tricky just in the way it was drying and wet but I think we made some good gains. It was kind of nice to have a tricky day but still come away thinking you made some improvements. I can't wait for tomorrow. I think the car is pretty close and we can tune her up a bit and see what it's like in the dry but it is a bit unknown but I think the car was okay."

#6 Pepsi Max PRA Ford – Cameron Waters: 14th - 1m33.01s
"It was pretty wet out there. I haven't driven a supercar in the wet for two years so in the morning session I was just getting a feel for it and then it dried up and I was pretty happy with the car. In the next session it was pretty similar, just wet so it was kind of hard to know where we were but overall I am happy with the day and I'm looking forward to driving around in the dry hopefully."

Tim Edwards – Team Principal: 
"Today was a pretty tricky day weather wise. It was hard to get a good read on the car in the dry because we had limited time but overall I think we are looking pretty good going into tomorrow. It was good for Cam to get some experience in the wet, especially around such a quick track. Tomorrow hopefully the weather will be dry and we can roll out well for qualifying."

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