Frosty burns off the heat

Mark Winterbottom leapt up the V8 Supercar Championship Series order today after another podium for the Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon at Hidden Valley Raceway.

Frosty now lies seventh in the championship after rocketing off sixth on the grid to finish second at the Darwin race track.

"It was a good result to move up four spots from the grid," said Frosty, who was using the new-for-2009 soft-compound Dunlops for extra grip at the start of the race. "I had a cracker start and got some cars there. The soft tyre really grips hard off the start line. Your wheel spin is reduced and she grips in quite hard; it chucked my head back in the seat! It's always good when you're jumping rows off the grid. After that it was about holding position."

Steve Richards meanwhile had a nightmare day as the Castrol FPR Falcon experienced massive under-steer in qualifying to place him 22nd.

In the race Richo and the FPR strategists banked on a safety car period to keep him in touch with the leaders but, unusually for V8 Supercar racing, one did not arrive.

"It's unbelievably disappointing," said Richo. "The car was handling very badly in qualifying so we had to try something. Unfortunately we went in a different direction to Frosty and it was pretty much far and away the worst way to go. It will be very easy to decide what to do tomorrow."

Qualifying for tomorrow's race ten starts at 11am.

NATSOFT Race Result2009 Skycity Triple Crown
HIDDEN VALLEY RACEWAY
V8 SUPERCARS - RACE 9 QUALIFYING
1. Jason Richards, Tasman, 1:09.4908*
2. Jamie Whincup, 888, +0.0515
3. Garth Tander, HRT, +0.0687
4. Craig Lowndes, 888, +0.1265
5. Todd Kelly, Kelly Racing, +0.2678
6. Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon, +0.2721

22. Steve Richards, Castrol FPR Falcon, +0.9306

NATSOFT Race Result2009 Skycity Triple Crown
HIDDEN VALLEY RACEWAY
V8 SUPERCARS - RACE 9
1. Jamie Whincup, 888
2. Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon
3. Will Davison, HRT
4. Garth Tander, HRT
5. Todd Kelly, Kelly Racing
6. Craig Lowndes, 888

21. Steve Richards, Castrol FPR Falcon