Winterbottom's high hopes for Perth return

It will be a special return to Wanneroo Raceway next weekend for Mark Winterbottom.

The Western Australia circuit will host the upcoming Bunnings Trade Perth SuperNight. Tickets are on sale now.

Perth is a happy hunting ground for Winterbottom, who is the third most successful driver in Supercars history at Wanneroo Raceway.

Winterbottom has won seven races at the venue, just one behind Mark Skaife’s tally of eight.

Craig Lowndes holds the top spot, having won a remarkable 16 races.

Next weekend’s Supercars round at Wanneroo Raceway will be the first at the circuit since 2019.

Race 10 of the three-race weekend will be held under lights.

Speaking to Supercars.com, Winterbottom explained his delight in returning to a circuit that holds many fond memories for him.

“It's very exciting,” Winterbottom told Supercars.com.

“It's been three years, which has felt like forever, and the support we get from Perth is massive.

“To get back there is absolutely crucial and I’m grateful we can.

“For me personally, it has been a very successful track in the past, third on the wins tally, and I’m chasing down the other two blokes ahead.

“It is a very exciting track, but it’s also a very tough track, but something has clicked there for me in the past.

“Hopefully, after three years, we can go back there and try to pick up from where we finished, which was quite strong, even in 2019.”

Winterbottom racing under lights in Perth in 2019

Winterbottom’s most dominant years in Perth came with Ford Performance Racing.

He first tasted victory at Wanneroo in 2008, winning all three races on offer.

It would take three more visits to the West to score win No.4, which came in 2012.

Two more wins followed in 2015, the second of which saw him overtake Peter Brock’s win tally of five.

A seventh win in Perth ended Winterbottom’s eight-month victory drought in 2016, seeing him holding off a charging Scott McLaughlin on fresher tyres.

"The 2016 win was a really cool one," Winterbottom said.

"The hardest part is when you're not racing someone, in 2016, I was on a two-stop tyre strategy, and other guys were on a three-stop.

"I was just racing the clock, trying to hit the lap time, which, I remember that race really well, was a 57.3s lap time.

"If I could keep it in 57.3s, that’s how I time-trialled my car to get to the end as quick as possible.

"I did it for about 20 laps in a row, which was really strong.

"I didn’t see the guys I was racing from lap 15 until lap 87 of the race, and it all came down to the final lap where I held off McLaughlin, and Lowndes was trying to have a go at McLaughlin as well.

"That was an epic win, I was really happy with the discipline of hitting the lap time, and the way we went about racing that day.

"Jason Gray my engineer, I remember him saying, '57.3s, please just keep hitting those numbers'. It's a team effort because you're trusting his numbers, and you're trusting his strategy.

"That day that was as good as it gets, when you are trying to do a burnout after the race and the tyres are just absolutely cactus, you've done a good job.

Winterbottom recorded his seventh win at Wanneroo in 2016

"It is one of my favourite wins of my career."

The Team 18 veteran endured a tough weekend at Wanneroo in 2019, with tyre dramas resulting in finishes of 18th and 15th.

He qualified 21st for the opener and finished 18th after tangling with Todd Hazelwood on lap 2.

He made his way from 15th on the grid on Saturday evening to eighth, only to fall back to 15th in the final 10 laps.

The 40-year-old is 11th in the championship heading to next weekend’s event.

Winterbottom, who is still looking for his first win for Team 18, remains quietly confident Perth could remain his lucky location.

"It's a tough track, but I like the tracks that are small," Winterbottom said.

"You look at Symmons Plains, and Wanneroo, that one slight mistake, and it’s game over.

"I pride myself on nailing qualifying laps and getting every corner right because when you get one wrong, it has a massive consequence.

"With Perth is it is about raw speed for qualifying, but in the races, it's about the mind.

"The high tyre degradation, the way you use the tyre, when you push and when you conserve, it’s about firing the bullet at the right time.

"It takes experience and I think in the past, it has worked really well for me.

"It’s a crazy place, and it always throws out ridiculously good racing.

'One slight mistake, and it’s game over'

"You can run three-stop, two-stop, or one-stop strategy [during the race], and they all seem to time trial to within a tenth of a second [when you get] 80 laps down the track, so using the tyre at the right time has been the key for me in the past.

"In 2019 it was brand new track surface and very grippy.

"Not being back there for three years, when we normally go back in 12-month increments, so I'm expecting, a 30-40 percent drop in track grip from when we're there in 2019.

"Even though we haven't been there for a while, it could be back to the old days, it could be back to the old lines, and could play to my strengths, I guess time will tell."

CLICK HERE to purchase your tickets for the biggest motorsport event held in Western Australia.

The three-race Bunnings Trade Perth SuperNight will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 506 and streamed on Kayo.

The Seven Network will broadcast highlights on Saturday and Sunday.