Frosty back on the podium

17 April 2016

Frosty finishes 2nd at the island

Prodrive Racing (Australia)'s Mark Winterbottom has finished second in the final race at the Phillip Island SuperSprint, moving up from fourth with just laps to go. 

Winterbottom maintained sixth position after the first stop, moving to fourth after the second. 

A mistake by Jamie Whincup and Scott Pye from second and third place at turn 12 allowed Winterbottom to move past both drivers to take second. Cameron Waters endured an unlucky race seven after a stellar start from 18th position. 

Waters moved up towards the top ten before tyre problems hampered his race position. Further tyre problems ended Waters challenge after puncturing the right front on the main straight. 

He re-joined to finish 23rd after an additional pit stop. 

DRIVERS’ VIEW
Mark Winterbottom - #1 The Bottle-O PRA Ford: 
Qualifying: 3rd 
Race 7: 2nd 
"The car was actually best in the last stint which was nice. It was a good result for the car speed that I had. P2, I'm wrapt. You've got to be proud of the team and the mechanic side of the car. We've maximised everything we had so it's a good day. Our quali speed has been great. Our race pace has been down a little bit and today. We've got work to do in the workshop and we can actually concentrate on development. I'm looking forward to the next one. Perth has been good to us. Hopefully we can get back up again and start winning races."

Cameron Waters - #6 Monster Energy PRA Ford: 
Qualifying: 18th 
Race 7: 23rd 
"I got a really good start and was running well on that first set of tyres. When we put the next set on the car just felt really weird and I wasn't really able to do anything. We struggled a bit so we pulled those tyres off and found that there was a few broken cords in that tyre set. We pitted early because we were really struggling and put another set on and then had the failure down the front straight. It was a pretty massive moment but we were lucky to keep the car off the wall and straight. There wasn't much we could do about it but we'll have a look at everything at the workshop and see where we can improve before Perth." 

Tim Edwards – Team Principal: 
"It was good to see Mark make the most of that situation towards the end of the race and get on the podium and get a good bag of points too. It's good to see him sitting third now and not too far off the lead as well. Our next event is Perth which has been kind to us but that said we've still got a few things to work on. We're not too sure what happened with the punctured tyre on Cam's car. It could have been caused by anything so we'll definitely have a look at that." 

DUNLOP SERIES
Prodrive Racing (Australia)'s Garry Jacobson has extended his championship lead after winning race three at Phillip Island. Jacobson was beaten off the start line from pole position in race one, staying in second for the duration of the race. A slow start saw him fall into second in race three before moving past James Golding at the end of lap one to lead the rest of the race. Jack Le Brocq made his way up to fourth from 10th in race two, but his luck ran out yet again in race three where he was turned at the start of the race. Despite the spin, Le Brocq was able to make ground to finish 13th and is pleased with the pace of car five.

Jack Le Brocq - #5 GoGetta Racing PRA Ford: 
Race 2: 4th 
Race 3: 13th 
"Race two this morning wasn't too bad. We had some pretty good speed and we found a few things in the car to fix up overnight so it was good. We moved from 10th to fourth so I'm pretty happy with that. In race three we didn't get the best start and unfortunately got turned around at turn four and that was that. We ended up at the back of the field and had to come back through and that was the day. The positive to take out of it was that it was good to prove that we can pass cars."

Garry Jacobson - #6 Challenger Valve PRA Ford: 
Race 2: 2nd
Race 3: 1st 
"To end this weekend with another race win is great. The guys at Prodrive Racing have done such a great job to put such a fantastic car together. It really suits my strengths so it's great to extend that lead again too. Race two didn't quite go to plan off the line but I managed to hold onto second and that gave me the ability to get into first in race three. The car has pace, it's been really good all weekend so I'm looking forward to heading to Perth now and thankfully it's not too far away."
 
RESULTS
RACE 7
1) Scott McLaughlin – Garry Rogers Motorsport
2) Mark Winterbottom – The Bottle-O Racing Team 
3) Scott Pye – DJR Team Penske
4) Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight
5) Craig Lowndes – Triple Eight
23) Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing

DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS 
1) Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight: 651
2) Scott McLaughlin – Garry Rogers Motorsport: 636
3) Mark Winterbottom – The Bottle-O Racing Team: 627
4) Craig Lowndes – Triple Eight: 615
5) Will Davison – Tekno: 558
18) Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing: 367

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Triple Eight: 1196
2) HRT: 1003
3) Prodrive Racing (Australia): 994

- See more at: http://www.prodriveracing.com.au/news/2016/04/17/frosty-back-on-the-podium#sthash.hxBvvVc2.dpuf