Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom snatched the fastest time in the dying moments of today’s (Friday) third practice session.
The factory Ford driver set a time of 1min 10.2125sec to finish ahead of TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup (1:10.2217) and Toll Holden Racing Team’s Will Davison (1:10.2644).
Davison was the fastest driver for much of the session before being knocked from the top of the timesheets by both Winterbottom and Whincup moments before the chequered flag.
However, Davison said he was actually happy not to win the “Friday Grand Prix”.
“The car was quick… but I think it is still a little on edge. It is not that easy to drive. It was an interesting session; we made a lot of changes and we need to sit down and analyse (the data) tonight. We were happy; the car was fast and there is no need to win the Friday Grand Prix like I have a few times (this year). It was probably a relief to be bumped off there at the end,” he said.
Winterbottom accredited his time to development work done on his Falcon since the last round of the Championship at Queensland’s Townsville. V8 Supercars
“We’ve had a few fans jump over to FPR and we’ll keep trying to represent the Ford logo and do the best we can, and if we do what we did today, then we’re on the right track,” Winterbottom said.
“We are a strong team and our past results haven’t been as strong as they should have been. Hopefully we’ll step up and deliver.”
Whincup admitted the huge week off-track may have distracted Team Vodafone on Friday, and expected things to improve once the serious business started on Saturday.
“It’s affected us a little bit on the track but with a good sleep tonight, we should come out firing,” said Whincup, who leads the championship from Davison. Sydney Morning Herald
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