FPR gambles and finishes fourth

Ford Performance Racing braved a rain-drenched track on slicks in an audacious bid to beat the obstacles flung at them by Phillip Island’s L&H 500.
The decision was a brave gamble by the team to maintain its hard-won advantage, gained by pitting early for fresh tyres. That tactical master stroke vaulted Mark Winterbottom from 5th to 1st with a 20 second lead over title rivals Triple Eight.

Disaster struck on lap 71, however, when the heavens opened. Most V8 Supercar Championship Series cars opted to dive in the garage for wets but FPR did the math and backed Steve Richards to keep it on track until the sun and wind cleared the conditions.

“I was absolutely driving around to stay on the black stuff in the rain,” said Richo. “You couldn’t apply 10% throttle without the car wanting to go sideways. We lost so much time but we’ll learn from that.”

The brave gamble did not pay off, but the team’s losses were minimised thanks to a safety car on lap 80 regulating the pace.

When the dust settled, the Castrol FPR Falcon was in 10th with just 33 laps to make up the short fall. Richo pulled off some gutsy moves against the likes of Lee Holdsworth and James Courtney to finish fourth.

“It was a great fight-back from Richo,” said Frosty. “He did a great job to pass those cars. This isn’t an easy track to pass on and conditions were pretty average. We’re still second in the points; we’ve held on when it could have been a bad day.”

The Orrcon Steel Ford Credit FPR Falcon, meanwhile, recovered from qualifying 27th to run as high as 14th. The car seemed destined for a top 10 finish, as many of the cars in front still needed to pit, but the rain intervened with James Courtney out-braking himself into Luke Youlden and damaging the FPR car’s steering. The team repaired the damage and Youlden brought it home in 24th with team-mate Dean Canto watching from the garage.

“It just started to poor down,” said Youlden. “Everyone was scrambling a bit. I went down the inside to get a bit of a view but copped a bit of a wack in the back which forced me into the car in front and broke the steering. I thought it might be terminal but the guys did a great job to get me back out again.”

“The car was just a jet and very consistent,” added Canto.