Winterbottom eager to iron out SMP ‘weaknesses’

IRWIN Racing driver Mark Winterbottom is looking forward to the rare opportunity to stage successive race meetings at Sydney Motorsport Park and the chance it brings to make considerable gains.

WATCH: TEAM 18'S WHAT IT TAKES, EPISODE THREE

Winterbottom was one of five drivers to finish all three races last month inside the top 10, with a best of fifth place in the finale.

Strong race pace and good tyre life were key factors as the 2015 champion made up at least four spots in each heat.

“Hopefully anywhere we go we have a bit more consistency this year than we did last year, so I kind of felt like any track we go to, top 10s have to be the goal,” Winterbottom told Supercars.com.

“It was a really consistent round… we had three solid results, a straight car, it was really good.”

Having seen Nick Percat and Brad Jones Racing take their respective first win in more than four years, Winterbottom is eyeing even more at the unexpectedly soon return to Eastern Creek.

The 2020 season had already been slated to finish back at Sydney Motorsport Park in December, but it will now host a third round in place of Winton: The Truck Assist Sydney SuperSprint, on July 18-19.

“Normally you don’t go back to a place for 12 months and we knew we were going back in December so I feel like between now and then we could have overcome a lot of our weaknesses that I thought the car had,” said the 39-year-old.

“But to have it back three weeks later, it’s unheard of in the sport.

“It will be interesting to see who improves from the weekend and who stays as they are. Our race pace was good, our quali pace needs to be improved a little.

“If we qualified better, we drove forward every race, so we were definitely a chance with race pace and tyre life and all that sort of side to be in the mix as well.”

Winterbottom, who had to leave behind wife Renee and their three children to join Team 18 in making a sudden dash to NSW on Monday, believes the recently acquired track knowledge will be advantageous to tackling it under lights this time.

“One of the hardest parts with night racing is the vision obviously,” he noted.

“Sydney Motorsport Park, around the corner there can be four different track surfaces in one corner given it has been patched.

“There’s chunks out of the road in a spot, there’s a new surface on the outside that hardly ever gets used.

“There can be different things so given the fact that we have been there a couple of weeks ago, you’ll know exactly where to place the car and what you’re going to get, so I think that’s a big benefit.”

The full track schedule for the Truck Assist Sydney SuperSprint was released today, with a 6:25pm night race on the Saturday before further 32-lap races at 12:25pm and 2:50pm the following day.