Ford continues strong form at Barbagallo

Ford Performance Racing drivers Chaz Mostert and Mark Winterbottom continues the strong form from previous races in the V8 Supercars weekend at Barbagallo. Mostert claimed a convincing victory in the final race, his first with FPR, while Winterbottom claimed two podium finishes and continues to hold a strong championship lead.

”A great day for the team today. Chaz fully deserved his first win for the year and his recent form has shown that he is fast becoming the regular contender we knew he would be. His drive today was what youd expect of some of the veterans and to see him on the podium with Frosty and Craig (Lowndes) highlights the calibre of his performance,” said FPR Team Manager Tim Edwards.

Winterbottom looked set to challenge for the victory in the final race but chose a different pitstop strategy.

”There is no doubt we didn’t get the strategy right today. We thought we would come home strong but we missed the window only slightly. To finish third is still not a bad day and to get a 1-3 result is great for the team. We came here with the lead and really needed to back up our performance which I feel we did pretty well as our points lead is similar to what we had after New Zealand,” said Winterbottom.

While the FPR was the team to beat in the final race, Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Craig Lowndes reduced the gap to Winterbottom in the drivers’ championship by six points after the race weekend.

”I’m delighted that the team managed to secure three podium finishes this weekend and then being able to round out the Perth 400 with a second today. Our car pace definitely improved as the weekend went on and our tyre life is good but we still have a little way to go. We were a little bit concerned about the unknown with stints over 28 laps and trying to keep a healthy pace and not chew up the tyre but we weren’t too bad. We left the best tyres to the end, trying to gain track position, which is incredibly important, but we couldn’t quite do it today,” said Lowndes.

Lowndes’ team mate Jamie Whincup finished the weekend strongly after a weak start and has moved up to fourth position in the championship.

”Although we’d like to have enough pace to win, I think we did the best we could. I had a good battle with Scott McLaughlin at the start, which I hope was entertaining for the fans. At the end of the day we got some good points which saw us push up to fourth in the championship so it’s onwards and upwards now for SKYCITY Triple Crown in Darwin,” said Whincup.

Volvo Polestar Racing driver Scott McLaughlin started the weekend strongest of all with pole position and Volvo’s first V8 Supercars victory in 28 years in the first race. But the team was unable to keep the form in the two last races as the Kiwi finished fourth in the second race and a disappointing 17th in the final race after struggling with tyre wear.

”It was a proud moment for me to take Volvo’s first V8 race win in 28 years. The third and final race was a bit unfortunate. I just struggled during the race with tyre wear and I got a few hits as well. But it has been an awesome race weekend overall, bring on the next!” said McLaughlin.

McLaughlin keeps seventh in the championship and has closed in on Shane Van Gisbergen for sixth position, a driver the 20-year-old was upset over after a clash in the final race.

“He was a lot slower than all of us, we were catching him at a second a lap and he indicated Moff (James Moffat) through but when I came past him he made it real difficult for some reason. I don’t know what, but he was a real pain to get by and then when we were rolling up the main straight he flips the bird at me. I don’t particularly enjoy someone screwing my race and then getting angry and pulling the bird at me. I don’t rate unsportsmanlike stuff and I felt that was,” said McLaughlin to speedcafe.com.

Outside of that drama was Brad Jones Racing driver Fabian Coulthard, placed third in the championship, who scored a strong second place in the first race and racked up two solid top five finishes in the final two races.

“We really struggled for grip which dictated our strategy a little bit, we went a little bit longer because we thought we were suffering for tyre life but we put the next sets on for the other stints and the thing was like it was on rails. I’m not sure what it was in the early part of the race, we’ve got to work out why that was but we moved forward in the race and we’ve got a clean car, not too much work for the boys, so it gives us time to analyse all the data and information and come out strong at the next one,” said Coulthard.

V8 Supercars continues in four weeks at Hidden Valley Raceway.