Winterbottom second fastest in Sandown practice

JC 1st, MW 2nd, CL 3rd

Mark Winterbottom has continued his recent run of good speed by posting the second fastest time during practice for the Norton 360 Sandown Challenge in Melbourne today.

Winterbottom narrowly missed out on the top spot after recording a lap time of 1min 11.0039sec aboard the #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon around the 4.445km Sandown circuit. His time was a mere 0.0175 seconds behind championship leader James Courtney who posted the quickest time of the day.

Having secured pole position at the venue in 2007, the 29 year-old believes a few minor tweaks in the set-up overnight should assist him with some more speed during qualifying tomorrow.

Like his team-mate, Steve Richards also made a solid start to the weekend when he posted the fastest time in the third of the day’s practice sessions before finishing the afternoon just outside the top ten on the timesheet.

Qualifying, the top ten shootout and opening 39-lap race of the weekend will be held tomorrow ahead of a 20-minute qualifying session and a 65-lap encounter on Sunday.

With two events remaining in the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series Winterbottom has leapt back into third place in the points standings on 2462 – only 200 points in arrears of championship leader James Courtney (2662). Jamie Whincup sits between the pair in second place on 2612 points.

QUOTES FROM THE DRIVERS

Mark Winterbottom – #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon
"Overall I'm pretty happy with the performance of the Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon but there's still probably a bit more speed that we can find in the set-up overnight," said Winterbottom.

"The track is a bit slower this year, I'm not sure if this is because there isn't the same amount of rubber down or because the temperature is different but we'll asses the data tonight to check it all out.

"It's always good to finish inside the top three, it gives us a good platform to build on overnight. Now it's a case of keeping on top of the weather tomorrow and changing the set-up accordingly."

Steve Richards – Orrcon Steel-backed #6 Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon
"It all went pretty well today, we seemed to have reasonable pace throghout the day," said Richards.

"We made quite a few changes to the set-up during the four sessions, some helped the performance of the car and some didin't but all in all I'm confident of a good showing tomorrow.

"I was fastest in the third session and then had a fair bit of traffic in the final session which meant I couldn't really get a lap in which cost me about four tenths of a second.

"We didn't use a new set of tyres today, so we'll put a new set on tomorrow when it matters in qualifying and give it our best shot."

Event 12 of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series
Norton 360 Sandown Challenge
Melbourne, Vic

RESULTS: Combined Practice
1. #18 James Courtney 1:10.9864
2. #5 Mark Winterbottom 1:11.0039
3. #888 Craig Lowndes 1:11.0615
4. #1 Jamie Whincup 1:11.1882
5. #9 Shane Van Gisbergen 1:11.200
6. #19 Jonathon Webb 1:11.2473
7. #24 Fabian Coulthard 1:11.2590
8. #55 Paul Dumbrell 1:11.2866
9. #17 Steven Johnson 1:11.3002
10. #22 Will Davison 1:11.3482
13. #6 Steve Richards 1:11.4467

V8 Supercar Championship Series Points Standings
After Race 22 of 26
1. James Courtney - 2662
2. Jamie Whincup - 2612
3. Mark Winterbottom - 2462
4. Craig Lowndes - 2405
5. Garth Tander - 2328
6. Shane Van Gisbergen - 2178
7. Rick Kelly - 1936
8. Lee Holdsworth - 1919
9. Paul Dumbrell - 1848
10. Michael Caruso - 1835
17. Steve Richards – 1291

ORRCON STEEL STATS – Sandown
Circuit: Sandown International Raceway
Location: Melbourne, Vic
Circuit Length: 4.445 kilometres
Format: 1 X 120km race (39 laps), 1 X 200km race (65 laps)
2009 Attendance: 41, 068 (three days)
2009 Saturday Pole Position: Will Davison
2009 Saturday Race Winner: Will Davison
2009 Sunday Pole Position: Will Davison
2009 Sunday Race Winner: Garth Tander

Mark Winterbottom
Debut: Event 9 - 2003
Races: 10
Best Qualifying: 1st (2007)
Avg. Qualifying: 8.6
Best Races Result: 1st (2006)
Avg. Race Result: 7.9

Steve Richards
Debut: Event 2 - 1996
Races: 30
Best Qualifying: 5th (1996)
Avg. Qualifying: 13.1
Best Race Result: 3rd (2007)
Avg. Race Result: 14.2

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Times below are Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time (GMT + 11 hours)

Saturday 20 November 2010
11:20am – 11:40am – Qualifying
12:25pm – 12:55am – Top Ten Shootout
4:05pm – Race One (Series Race 23) - 39 laps

Sunday 21 November 2010
11:15am – 11:35pm – Warm Up
3:05pm – Race Two (Series Race 24) - 65 laps

AUS TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Times subject to amendment – please check local guides

SEVEN NETWORK
Saturday 20 November 2010
2:30pm – 5:30pm (Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney)

Sunday 21 November 2010
2:30pm – 5:30pm (Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney)

SPEED TV (Foxtel 505) and SPEED TV HD (Foxtel 206)
Saturday 20 November 2010
9:30pm – 10:30pm: (Series Race 23 Highlights)

Sunday 21 November 2010
7:00am – 8:00am: (Series Race 23 Highlights)
12:30pm – 1:30pm: (Series Race 23 Highlights)
9:30pm – 11:00pm: (Series Race 24 Highlights)

Monday 22 November 2010
10:30am – 11:30am: (Series Race 23 Highlights)
11:30am - 1:00pm: (Series Race 23 Highlights)