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Big points gain boosts title tilt

Big points gain boosts title tilt

7 July 2013

Frosty finishes 4th after early safety car brought alternate strategies

Ford Pepsi Max Crew has finished the Townsville 400 with a considerable boost in the driver and team points tallies despite missing the podium in a race dominated by alternate strategies.

Pole-sitter Mark was the best FPR car in fourth place and the highest one-stop runner with yesterdays race winner Will finishing 10th behind a bevy of two-stop cars.

Marks efforts see him jump to fourth in the points behind his team-mate and both drivers have reduced the gap considerably to their chief rivals.

Mark Winterbottom - #5 Pepsi Max FPR Ford:

Qualifying: 1st

Race 17: 4th

We did a great job today and everything went as it should especially when we were driving away from the field, though there was a flipside as our tyre use yesterday maybe hurt us a bit today. I dont believe the tyre allocation is quite right as some people that had poor results yesterday were advantaged today. We did the best we could and fourth was it. That aside it was good to claw back points today and without the early season issues we would be much higher. The last couple of events have given us a lot more hope and our chance at the title doesnt look so unrealistic now. We came away with more points than our rivals so it wasnt a bad weekend at all.

Will Davison - #6 Pepsi Max FPR Ford:

Qualifying: 9th

Race 17: 10th

It was a disappointing day really after yesterday. I had a cracking start and moved from ninth to third pretty quickly. The car felt okay on the hard tyres but I could tell early on the set-up wasnt quite where we wanted it and I picked up a lot of understeer which hurt the rear tyres. We then lost a lot of time getting carved up by all the cars running the alternate soft tyre strategy early in the race. We pushed to close the gaps in the second half but without a safety car that was pretty much impossible. We did all we could and made no mistakes but it just wasnt our day. Today aside it has been a promising weekend and weve closed the gap and the car is improving all the time.

Tim Edwards FPR Team Principal:

While today certainly didnt reach the heights of yesterday we again secured a large haul of points which has capped a successful weekend for the team. Marks pole and fourth place, coupled with yesterdays podium, have revived his points tally and hes continued his strong run of form. Will was solid but both he and Frosty just couldnt quite match the outright pace of the two-stoppers around them. There was a risk with that strategy but it paid off for those that chose it.

SUCROGEN TOWNSVILLE 400

RACE 21 RESULTS:

1) Garth Tander HRT

2) James Courtney HRT

3) Shane van Gisbergen Tekno

4) Mark Winterbottom Pepsi Max Crew FPR

5) Russell Ingall Walkinshaw

10) Will Davison Pepsi Max Crew FPR

DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS AFTER RACE 21

1) Jamie Whincup Triple Eight: 1591 points

2) Craig Lowndes Triple Eight: 1480

3) Will Davison Pepsi Max Crew FPR: 1376