Pither pounces in Ipswich qualifying

24 July 2016

Frosty races forward to 4th place.

Prodrive Racing (Australia) and Super Black Racing's Chris Pither has claimed his maiden Supercars pole position at Ipswich SuperSprint and the first for the Kiwi team ahead of race 16 at Queensland Raceway.

With only 0.6 of a second separating the majority of the field, Pither put together a stellar lap to start from the front of the grid, qualifying ahead of Chaz Mostert who started in second position.

A drive issue on the formation lap for Cameron Waters caused the start of race 16 to be delayed after being forced to stop on track.

While the team were able to fix the Monster Energy Racing Ford, which suffered a snapped tail shaft, it was not eligible to finish the race and retired early.

Mark Winterbottom started from seventh for his 400th race, thanking his first stint pace for enabling him to move through the field to eventually finish fourth.

Chaz Mostert was unable to hold off three charging bulls in the first stint after battling with Chris Pither off the start line.

A few knocks at the start of the race threw off the Supercheap Auto racer's balance, causing him to drop to fifth.

Strong pace on his last set of tyres enabled him to catch the front four cars in the dying laps but he was unable to get past teammate Winterbottom.

Despite a strong start, Chris Pither was unable to hold onto his first place start, dropping to finish 11th.

Pither will make his 50th Supercars race start on Sunday in race 17 and is confident there is more to come from the Super Black Racing entry.

DRIVERS’ VIEW
Mark Winterbottom - #1 The Bottle-O PRA Ford: 
Qualifying: 7th 
Race 16: 4th 
"That was probably as good as we could probably get I guess. The best of the rest. My first stint I thought was really good, the car was really hooked up and I thought I was on because I was starting to pull Gis (Shane van Gisbergen) in and it was looking good and then we pitted and the car just wasn't the same on that set of tyres so we'll look at it, but I think we matched them in one stint and lost a little bit in the second stint. Track temperature dropped, grip went up and my car didn't like those conditions but if I can have the first stint car for the whole race I think we can race them."
 
Cameron Waters - #6 Monster Energy PRA Ford: 
Qualifying: 12th 
Race 16: DNF
"Yeah the race just wasn't going to happen for us today I guess. I lost drive in second gear on the formation lap and had to stop on the track. The guys brought it back and fixed it up, it was a tail shaft I think but we didn't get it done in time so made sure it was all okay and then brought it back to the garage. It was frustrating for sure. We had better pace in practice this morning. We didn't qualify as high up as I would have liked but the pace is there so we'll work on it overnight."
 
Chaz Mostert - #55 Supercheap Auto PRA Ford: 
Qualifying: 2nd
Race 16: 5th 
"I struggled a bit out there today. I didn't feel like I had the balance and then tyre life hurt us a bit. I didn't feel like I had the tyre life of some of the guys around. Fifth is still a pretty great result but it's not where you want to be when you started on the front row. We know the pace is there, we've just got to make sure it's there for the race."
 
Chris Pither - #111 Super Black PRA Ford: 
Qualifying: 1st 
Race 16: 11th 
"I'm still buzzing from the pole position. It was absolutely unreal and an amazing feeling. It's a credit to the entire Super Black Racing team. Everyone puts a lot of hard work in behind the scenes and to get a result like that is awesome. I think we've had the potential all year to be right there but we've been a little bit inconsistent but it's awesome to actually put it all together and put the run on the board. It boosts my confidence and everyone else's too. Going into the race there was a bit of pressure at the start there, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous but I think I managed to execute the best start I've done all year. I was happy with that and then the first couple of laps were exciting but I got banged around a little bit and it was hard to get into a line and press on so we lost a few spots as a result. Overall the car had good speed in the race like it did in qualifying so we'll tune it up for tomorrow and go again."
 
Tim Edwards – Team Principal: 
"It was absolutely fantastic to see Chris and Super Black get their first pole position today. They've been close this year but to put it together is really great. Frosty had a good race and he and Chaz were really pushing to get close to the Triple Eight cars at the end. If we had a few more laps we would have had them I think but we're challenging them and that's the main thing. Unfortunate for Cam to have that issue on the formation lap and miss out on the points at the end but the problem seems to be fixed."

RESULTS
RACE 16
1) Shane van Gisbergen – Triple Eight 
2) Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight
3) Craig Lowndes – Triple Eight
4) Mark Winterbottom – The Bottle-O Racing Team
5) Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing 
11) Chris Pither– Super Black Racing
DNF) Cameron Waters – Prodrive Racing

DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS 
1) Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight: 1683
2) Shane van Gisbergen – Triple Eight: 1642
3) Mark Winterbottom – Prodrive Racing: 1590
4) Craig Lowndes – Triple Eight: 1521
5) Scott McLaughlin – Garry Rogers Motorsport: 1434
10) Chaz Mostert – Prodrive Racing: 1157
18) Cameron Waters – Prodrive Racing: 844
20) Chris Pither– Super Black Racing: 706

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Triple Eight: 3335
2) Prodrive Racing: 2449
3) HRT: 2311