Fords must unite in Championship fight

The Fords must band together and lock their rivals out of the Championship points, Mark Winterbottom says.

The Pepsi Max driver - who leads Holden favourite Craig Lowndes by a substantial 248-point margin after six V8 Supercars events - knows he and his teammates are capable of continuing the strong run they have experienced so far this season. He also knows that if the FG Xs start to falter, it will be Lowndes and his Red Bull teammate and six-time champion Jamie Whincup who will be the first to pounce.

The best way forward, 'Frosty' says, is for the Fords to keep banking the big points and then if it is teammate against teammate come the end of the season, so be it.

"We need each other finishing like we are, because all we do is take points off everyone else," Winterbottom told v8supercars.com.au ahead of today's Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint.

"Although you're racing against each other, you need each other to be competitive - because if we're not, Lowndes is up there, Whincup's up there, Courtney's up there, and the gaps stay quite tight."

Winterbottom's Pepsi Max and Bottle-O teammates Chaz Mostert and David Reynolds feature in the top five in the points and have earned race wins and front row starts this season, there's rookie Andre Heimgartner, who drives the Super Black Falcon. Frosty also called out Scott Pye, who has found some consistent top 10 finishes in recent rounds. Pye drives for DJR Team Penske, which has a technical alliance with Prodrive and also runs an FG X.

"That's five Falcons all taking points from other people - that's powerful. That has helped our gap massively," Winterbottom said.

"We need Dave behind, Chaz going good, we need Scott Pye going good because we're just taking points off everyone."

It is competitive in the Prodrive garage while each driver and engineer looks to learn from one another to make further gains on track. Winterbottom stressed there were no team orders - but the key was to keep others out of the fight.

"They're trying to do the best job they can.

"We've got the same car, same data, so we can analyse everything we do. Chaz has been the standout for qualifying so we've all been trying to look at his data. Dave's had a good run the last couple of rounds, and we've had good race results and good race starts - so always trying to work out each other's strengths and put them all together."

Reynolds told v8supercars.com.au yesterday that if the opportunity arose, he would try and pass Winterbottom for the lead after shying away in Townsville, and Mostert has been the form qualifier and is the reigning Bathurst 1000 Champion.

"Every driver has a chance of winning - Dave thinks he can win, so does Chaz," Winterbottom said.

"With three cars in the top five there's a good chance of at least one of our cars winning it and they're [the team is] not going to just sit back and let one car win.

"It doesn't work like that - it's every man for himself. But at the same time we're working really well together so it's good to see Dave jump up from where he was, and Chaz going good as well."

Mostert earned his first V8 Supercars race win at Queensland Raceway just four rounds after debuting mid-season with DJR in 2013 - since then he has shown he is a future force in the sport.

Given his recent burst in qualifying - with six ARMOR ALL Pole Positions to him name, more than any other driver this year - it is being questioned whether his and Frosty's relationship will change as he becomes more of a title threat to his teammate.

Winterbottom says their bond is still strong and is just pleased to see the team succeeding.

"At the end of the day there's no use fighting your teammate because if they beat you and they've got the same equipment - what's the use at getting angry at him it's not his fault he's doing a good job," he said.

"I hope our relationship stays as it is, it's a good relationship and id he wins and I come second, that's a good result ... so it's been no issues at all which is good.

"I don't think we've even had an argument at all, it's a good relationship.

"He's going to want to win and I want to win, so you get competitive, but I'm happy for his successes and wins because it's a good result for the team.

"At the end of the day, he'll win one, I'll win one and we share it around - you've got to celebrate those good results, you don't get stroppy. You look at why they beat you, but you definitely don't take it out on them and create friction, because it's a good situation."

While Winterbottom hasn't recorded a win at Queensland Raceway since 2008 he has been on the podium and was running in the top five before a tyre puncture last year, so doesn't view it as a 'bad' track.

"It's tough if you don't have a car that's not braking well - it's going to be a long weekend," he said of the circuit.

"But we've had good results - we're a couple of years we finished second, which is a good result... Although it's been bad in terms of wins, it's been good in other ways."

The Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint kicks off today, with the V8 Supercars and Dunlop Series on track at Queensland Raceway. Click here for ticketing and broadcast details.