Frosty rues driving after late race error

After topping practice and trading times at the top in qualifying, Mark Winterbottom looked as if he’d carry his winning form into Pukekohe.

But a high-speed spin in qualifying, and then a late race mistake saw him finish just 13th after he had made ground in the top 10 in the first race of the ITM 500 Auckland. 

“I just dropped a wheel off on the grass into the hairpin, so just trying to get a run on Nick (Percat for sixth) and, driver error,” a deflated Winterbottom told v8supercars.com.au post-race. 

“Bad day, a bad day of driving. Good thing is we’ll turn up again and go again tomorrow – but just drove badly.”

At least he didn’t make an appearance in the stewards office as teammate Chaz Mostert did, after a racing incident. Winterbottom’s response to the quip?

“I deserve to give myself a penalty.”

On his flying lap in ARMOR ALL Qualifying earlier – which he was certain would earn him a start from p1 on the grid – he ran wide out of the final corner, and the left side of his Falcon slammed into the concrete, flicking him around and back across the track.

“It’s not a good place to hit – it hurts when you hit it,” he said.  

“Disappointed – I was on for pole for that lap, that was going to comfortably buy us pole position – and just slightly on the grass. And when the grass is wet you just take off.

“I was actually lucky to come away with the damage I did, I guess, because it spun across the track and could’ve been a monster. If I had’ve hit the other side – actually swung back around. (But) I kept going.

“So the car was damaged for the next run and couldn’t do a time. Just frustrating.”

After a quick pit stop, he went back out and while the car was suffering, he still managed 10th, but felt that put him on the back foot for the race.  

“The guys are trying to focus on getting the car out rather than setup so not ideal… I can’t believe I got back to 10 because the car was horrible.”

Last year’s event at Pukekohe was devastating for Winterbottom. He had the quickest car in the field but was unable to capitalise with tyre issues and driving incidents faltering his weekend. He felt he was robbed. Does it worry him it will all come unraveled here again?

“You can’t worry about last year … that was last year, that was tyres. This was slight error.

“Your toughest critic is yourself, so I’ll fix that and I’ve got a good car, I know I’m quick. I’ve got no issue going out and having a crack.”

Fortunately for Winterbottom, the 100km race was only worth 50 points, so while Craig Lowndes’ Championship lead has grown after his third placing, the gap has only increased from 28 to 49. Fifty points are on offer for both of tomorrow’s races, with 150 for the big 200km run on Sunday.

Team BOC’s Jason Bright won the race ahead of Shane van Gisbergen and Lowndes, giving Holden a one-two-three finish at Pukekohe. Interestingly, Ford has only won two of 25 V8 Supercars races at the circuit.