Despair to Delight and Back Again

Frosty charges to 2nd in Race 2, finishing 10th for the round

Sensational pace from Ford Performance Racing saw Mark Winterbottom rocket up the grid to finish second from 21st in today's first V8 Supercar Championship Series race at Winton Motor Raceway.

The #5 Orrcon Steel Ford Credit FPR Falcon passed eight cars on lap one and then stayed out long, consistently lapping almost 0.5s quicker than championship rivals Garth Tander and Jamie Whincup, who started third and first respectively.

The plan saw Frosty emerge from the pits on lap 27 ahead of both, with only Will Davison in front of him.

The team's jubilation was short-lived, however, when both Frosty and team-mate Steve Richards suffered dramas on lap one of the third and final race.

Frosty had snatched the lead from pole-sitter Will Davison only to run wide at turn three. He was clipped by another car as he rejoined and ended in the pits, exiting three laps down to finish 26th.

Richo, meanwhile, had a rotten weekend with a driveline failure in race two whilst lapping in fourth, the result of a lap-one incident. The #6 Castrol FPR Falcon's luck did not change in race three, when he retired after yet another lap one incident that saw him turned sideways from behind.

Both Frosty and Richo dropped a place in the championship standings and are now 2nd and 6th respectively.

The next V8 Supercar Championship Series round will be the L&H 500 at Phillip Island on September 9-12.

Mark Winterbottom #5 Orrcon Steel Ford Credit FPR Falcon
'In race two the team kept saying on the radio that I was close to winning the race. We just kept pushing and trying to make up as much time as we could. I was racing the clock for the entire 40 laps and sometimes a race like that is more rewarding than a victory.

'The second race was my fault; everyone makes mistakes and mine was here. I made contact trying to come back onto the track because you just can't see what's going on. I was down a couple of laps after that with bent steering so the race was over; it was just about circulating for points.

'There's only 12 points in it for the championship lead and it's going to chop and change between now and the end of the season. As long as I make sure it's me at the front at Oran Park then it'll be OK. It's much better than it was last year.'

Steve Richards #6 Castrol FPR Falcon
'I haven't a clue what happened in that third race. It felt the same as I'd imagine being the ball in a pinball machine. Someone came from the left-hand-side and took the front of the car out. That turned me sideways and someone else hit the right-front.

'I just can't put it into words. Every race this year, other than the ones that we've finished on the podium, has just been chaos.'

Tim Edwards Team Principal
'Sometimes you just have weekends that are character building and this is one of them. A couple of weeks ago I said it was far too early in the championship to make any predictions about who is going to win and this is why.
'There's no doubt that we've got the two fastest cars out there. We can take comfort from that and the others can worry about it.'

2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series - Round 8 Winton Motor Raceway RACE TWO
1 Will Davison DJR
2 Mark Winterbottom #5 Orrcon Steel Ford Credit FPR Falcon
3 Garth Tander HRT
4 Jamie Whincup 888
5 Craig Lowndes 888
6 Rick Kelly HSV
24 Steve Richards #6 Castrol FPR Falcon

V8 Supercar Championship Series Round 8 Winton Motor Raceway RACE THREE
1 Garth Tander HRT
2 Jamie Whincup 888
3 Lee Holdsworth GRM
4 Will Davison DJR
5 Rick Kelly HSV
6 Craig Lowndes 888
26 Mark Winterbottom #5 Orrcon Steel Ford Credit FPR Falcon
DNF Steve Richards #6 Castrol FPR Falcon

V8 Supercar Championship Series CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS DRIVERS
1 Garth Tander 1844
2 Mark Winterbottom 1832
3 Jamie Whincup 1758
4 Rick Kelly 1506
5 Will Davison 1426
6 Steve Richards 1383

V8 Supercar Championship Series CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS TEAMS
1 FPR 3227
2 888 3123
3 HRT 2828