Whincup and Winterbottom Take the Blame

Jamie Whincup and Mark Winterbottom have both taken the blame for mistakes that have banished them to 25th and 14th starting positions for this afternoon’s 300km race at the ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600.

Both drivers, who have been locked in verbal spat all week, rode over the kerb at the super-fast turn one chicane in the early stages of this morning’s 30 minute qualifying session.

Whincup hit the tyre bundle at the exit and knocked the left rear door skin off his Red Bull Racing Holden Commodore VF, prompting a red flag which automatically excluded him from the session.

“I went deep, I was having a big go,” said Whincup. “I did a reasonable lap and thought I would have a big push on the next one and just missed my turn-in point by a couple of inches.

“I only just got the tyres, but it was enough to rip the door skin off. That caused the red flag, so the rules are the rules.

“Anyway, we miss out on the shootout and get to watch the other guys do their thing. We have set ourselves a big task this afternoon.

“We have made it very hard for ourselves, which we didn’t want to do, but we will press on.”

Whincup confirmed his PIRTEK Enduro Cup partner Paul Dumbrell will start the race.

Winterbottom also left his braking too late at turn one in his FPR Pepsi-Max Falcon, rode over the kerbs and damaged the front and rear left-side suspension. He also damaged the rear-end in a similar incident on Friday.

“Coming into one I hit that sleeper again, just a small error and it ruins the car,” Winterbottom said. “The guys did a great job to get the rear-end back on and who knows where it is. You are talking millimetres when you adjust your rear toe and they are fitting the (suspension) arm on trying to fix it.

“We managed to salvage it better than where we could have been, but I just have not got confidence. You could probably brake deeper, but every time I have a little wobble now I head going up the escape road.”

Winterbottom's Pepsi Max FPR teammate Will Davison also qualified back in the pack, recording the 21st best time. 

Click here for full qualifying results.