Bathurst 1000: FPR Saturday notes

FROSTY KEEPS COOL HEAD FOR THIRD

Further improvements saw Ford Performance Racing qualify third for tomorrow's Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 after a tense top-ten shoot-out on today's drying track.

A rain shower earlier today drenched the mountain, but the early runners and emerging sunshine saw the conditions change every lap.

Mark Winterbottom was seventh to run after setting the fourth- fastest time in yesterday's qualifying and, facing a wet summit, used every inch of the track to set a time of 2:08.2737.

Co-driver Steve Richards watched nervously from the pit garage.

Cars will be on track tomorrow from 08:00 for warm-up practice before the Great Race at 10:30.

Mark Winterbottom
Castrol Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon

"I missed out on the front row by half-a-tenth, which is disappointing. I struggled with tyre temperature but everyone's got the same issue.

"We were improving the car right up until the warm up lap so I only had a couple of corners to feel the new set-up. It was a lot better though.

"Keeping off the walls and the watery spots as well as judging a new set up; it's pretty hard to nail it into turn one when you've got all those things to consider.

"We haven't really talked strategy yet but when you've got two guys with the same lap times it doesn't really matter so much what happens with strategy. You can either win the race in the garage or on the track."

Steve Richards
Castrol Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon

"The two races that I've won up here, I've started from 11th and 15th. We're not starting that far back!

"Watching from the garage doesn't get any easier for me. You know Frosty's going to do a great job; he would have driven the car to its limit in the conditions, which kept getting better and better.

"The trick was to get some heat into the tyres and then you're alright but it was still wet on the top of the mountain on our run."

-credit: fpr