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V8 Supercar Championship

FPR  takes win after spirited drive Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom

Mark Winterbottom took his first victory of the season on Sunday at Eastern Creek in an incredible fight-back from the Ford Performance Racing driver after he qualified 15th in the V8 Supercar Championship at the Sydney circuit. The revival began in the first race, when ‘Frosty’ rocketed from 10th to fourth off the grid passing James Courtney to run third before he had even completed a lap. Another great start in this afternoon's second race saw the 26-year-old snatch the lead off the grid to lead lights to flag. 

His team-mate, Steven Richards, made up 20 places in the 31 laps of this morning's race and was set to pull off a similarly astounding feat this afternoon, running fifth in the closing stages. Disaster struck on lap 24, however, when his front left tyre expired. He could only watch-on as the tyre barrier approached with the collision, estimated to be at 160kph, leaving the #6 Castrol FPR Falcon a write-off. The team is now assessing its options before next weekend's Australian GP round, in which the V8s are supporting.

Mark Winterbottom "Yesterday, after qualifying, we almost booked an early flight home for today because we didn't think we'd be here! To fight back to win the way we did is sometimes better than a win! "We did a lot of work and got the cars quicker and to finish 10th, second and first is an incredible achievement and we did it with genuine speed today."

Steven Richards, "About three corners before on the previous lap, at about Turn Seven, I noticed the car had a bit of a wobble and under-steer in that last race; I thought I had a flat tyre. It seemed to be OK on the straight so I didn't come in. Whatever happened let go the next lap on Turn 3. I went around the corner and the front fell over a bit and then it took its own direction. I don't know how to measure one accident against another but it was pretty rough; they all are when you hit the wall though. I don't have too many of them fortunately but this time there's terrible damage to the car; that's going to take a while to get fixed."