Sydney son celebrates home success

5 December 2009

Frosty finishes 2nd

Mark Winterbottom gave Sydney something to cheer for today as he represented his home town on the Sydney Telstra 500 podium.

The Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon driver completed a faultless 250kms to finish second in a race marked by incidents every other lap.

"To get on the podium at a track with a lot of meaning, when I grew up so close, is awesome," said Frosty. "Hopefully we can make the car quicker and see what tomorrow brings; hopefully one better.

"It's a very physical track; if you make one mistake it normally means you're in the wall so you've got to concentrate for 74 laps. In these long races you have just got to survive.

"On those last few laps I was just waiting for Garth to spin off and then I'd have been making the victory salute over the start-finish line!"

Team-mate Steve Richards made an incredible recovery, gaining 15 places from his start position to finish 8th overall. 

"I didn't think this result was possible this morning," said Richo whose turnaround was due partly to a stroke of genius by the team. "There was a key manoeuvre where we pitted for that safety car on lap 27 to give us some more fuel. It meant we had to pit three times but our last stop was much shorter than everyone else. 

"In the end, there was another incident that brought out the safety car right in front of me so I knew what was coming. I got one clear lap flat-out because of that, which absolutely worked in my favour." 

Both drivers will be on track for the last qualifying session of the year tomorrow at 10.30am.

Sydney Telstra 500
SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK STREET CIRCUIT
Qualifying - Race 25
1. Garth Tander, HRT, 1:29.5840R
2. David Reynolds, Walkinshaw Racing, +0.0638
3. James Courtney, DJR, +0.1617
4. Lee Holdsworth, GRM, +0.1962
5. Paul Dumbrell, Walkinshaw Racing, +0.1967
6. Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon, +0.2955
23. Steve Richards, Castrol FPR Falcon, +1.5209

Sydney Telstra 500
SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK STREET CIRCUIT
Top Ten Shoot Out - Race 25
1. Garth Tander, HRT, 1:29.8489*
2. Lee Holdsworth, GRM, +0.4887
3. Jamie Whincup, 888, +0.5142
4. Michael Caruso, GRM, +0.5449
5. Cameron McConville, BJR, +0.5518
6. Greg Murphy, Tasman, +0.5529
7. Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon, + 0.5679


Sydney Telstra 500
SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK STREET CIRCUIT
Race 25
1. Garth Tander, HRT
2. Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon
3. Jason Bright, Fujitsu Racing
4. Lee Holdsworth, GRM
5. Jamie Whincup, 888
6. Michael Caruso, GRM
7. Jason Bargwana, Tasman
8. Steve Richards, Castrol FPR Falcon

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