Not so rad in Adelaide

2 March 2014

Ford Pepsi Max Crew duo Chaz Mostert and Mark Winterbottom had a day to forget at the Clipsal 500 with both getting caught up in separate incidents.

Frosty qualified fifth and was in the lead group early but a delay exiting the pits due to heavy traffic dropped him down the field.

While that cost him track position it removed him from the biggest incident of the race which saw a barrel-rolling crash for Jason Bright on a safety car restart change the course of events.

That incident brought an end to Chazs day as he had no visibility in the ensuing melee and was hit by multiple cars with substantial front-end damage causing his retirement.

Up to that point he had been racing cleanly and waiting to work his way through the field.

On the restart after the Bright incident was cleared Frosty was tipped into the wall by Nick Percat.

The impact was light but caused front-end damage and repairs cost him a lap and any chance of a high result despite limping home to 12th thanks to a litany of late-race incidents ahead of him.

Mark Winterbottom - #5 Pepsi Max FPR Ford:

Unfortunately we had a few issues today which werent ideal as the pace was good. The pit stop delay cost me and put me back in the pack, but that safety car restart wasnt right. The officials need to have a look at it as while it is great to have ideas, when driver safety is being compromised it is not right. Hopefully they address the issue. The rest of the race was really just trundling around but the way everyone was falling off I mightve won the race if I had a few more laps. It wasnt a great weekend but we salvaged some points.

Chaz Mostert - #6 Pepsi Max FPR Ford:

It was probably the worst debut possible. You never want to end a race meeting with a really crashed car but unfortunately the new safety car restarts seem to cause a lot of crashes. It was terrible to get into turn one and see cars everywhere. It was a bit of a NASCAR moment as I encountered cars, dust and debris everywhere and just hoped I wouldnt hit anyone. Someone bounced off the tyre wall right in front of me and I had nowhere to go. We have to get the car fixed and get it to Albert Park and see if we can have a good run there.

Tim Edwards Team Principal:

Clearly today wasnt the performance we expect of ourselves. While there were a few mitigating circumstances it wasnt really at the level overall we expect. Chaz was unlucky and so was Frosty with their respective safety car restart clashes. The damage to Chazs car will be assessed when we get back but after a dramatic day we wont be the only ones burning some midnight oil.

CLIPSAL 500 RESULTS SUNDAY

1) James Courtney HRT
2) Craig Lowndes Triple Eight
3) Shane van Gisbergen Tekno
12) Mark Winterbottom Ford Pepsi Max Crew
DNF) Chaz Mostert Ford Pepsi Max Crew

DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1) Craig Lowndes Triple Eight: 282 points
2) Fabian Coulthard Brad Jones Racing: 230
3) Shane van Gisbergen Tekno: 221
7) Mark Winterbottom Ford Pepsi Max Crew: 189
23) Chaz Mostert Ford Pepsi Max Crew: 51

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

1) Triple Eight: 481 points
2) HRT: 367
3) Brad Jones Racing: 296
6) Ford Pepsi Max Crew: 240