Winterbottom disappointed by Waters 'dive-bomb'

Mark Winterbottom says Cameron Waters’ ‘dive-bomb’ on the first lap of today’s Pukekohe race came while he was trying to protect their team-mate and title contender Chaz Mostert.

Mostert, Winterbottom and Waters started third, fourth and fifth in the second leg of the ITM Auckland SuperSprint, but were involved in a melee at Turn 8 on the opening lap.

Waters looked down the inside of Winterbottom, and the contact forced the 2015 champion wide and into Mostert on the outside line entering the hairpin.

That spun Mostert around and both drivers copped hits as they fell to the back of the field, while Waters went on to finish third.

Stewards opted against taking further action, and Waters was adamant that the “move was on”.

hairpin.

“It is what it is, but we’ll address it at the workshop and try to move on.”

Winterbottom described his Falcon as “wrecked” after copping a hit in the right-rear corner from Lee Holdsworth.

He was penalised for speed in pitlane at his second stop and ultimately finished 19th.

Asked what happened at Turn 8, Mostert told Supercars.com: “No idea. Haven’t seen it. I’ll leave it at that.”

Yet to view the footage properly, team manager Chris O’Toole surmised that it “looks like too many cars into a fairly small hole”.

“No-one wants to see their cars colliding together,” O’Toole told Supercars.com.

“The outcome’s never good and it hurts the team as a result. There’s no overall gain.”