Mark Winterbottom disappointed by wet weather struggles at The Bend
Veteran declares wet set up needs to be improved before Bathurst
Tyre mis-step saw Winterbottom crash in Bathurst rain last year
If Bathurst throws any weather curveballs like it did 12 months ago, Tickford Racing could be in for a long 1000 kilometres.
That's the fear of veteran co-driver Mark Winterbottom, after he and Cam Waters finished a disappointed 13th in a wet and wild AirTouch 500 at The Bend.
It was a bitter pill to swallow after a strong showing in the preliminary sessions, with Winterbottom consistently one of the faster co-drivers, and Waters qualifying a fine third in dry conditions.
However, when the heavens opened, the #6 Monster Mustang couldn't generate the same speed, and wasn't helped by a 15-second penalty for Winterbottom spinning Will Davison at Turn 1 on the opening lap, nor Waters being spun by the same car, this time driven by Matt Payne on lap 65.
It was a second wet-weather enduro struggle for Tickford in as many attempts, Winterbottom having found the wall at Forrest's Elbow when he was on dry tyres as the rains began to fall.
The 2013 Bathurst winner offered a blunt review of Tickford's wet weather package on Supercars' The Run Home podcast: "We just weren't fast enough. In the wet it was not fast enough.
"Whether I was in the car or Cam was in the car, the pace wasn't there, and it was really tough because leading up to the race I thought we were in a really good position.
"Every co-driver session I'd be third and the two people ahead of me had brand new tyres, so I felt really comfortable. Cam did an amazing lap to qualify third in the Shootout.
"I was confident at the start if it was dry that I could lead into Turn 1, I just felt like my starts are very strong, and with a dry car and the pace we had, I thought we were a good chance."
However, the silver lining for Tickford is that pace was strong once the track dried out, though Waters would cross the line a lap down at the finish.
Winterbottom is confident that a dry race will see Tickford in the hunt at Bathurst, however as The Bend's relatively minimal rain forecast only reinforced, there's no sure thing in predicting what Mount Panorama's weather might do.
"The pros of the weekend, if it was dry I think we finish on the podium. The cons, we were just slow in the wet," surmised Winterbottom.
"The pace was not just off, it was two seconds a lap slower. So we've got work to do, and for endurance [races] you need a hybrid car.
"You need one that's fast in the wet, which Penrite, Walkinshaw they were capable of doing it, then you look at the flip side at the Erebus cars that went full wet set up, and were slow in the dry.
"So you can't do that either, because if it dries up you're exposed as well, so you need that hybrid car, however it works, and we had a very good dry car, and a very poor wet car.
"End of the day, that's the curtain raiser for Bathurst, and you learn from the mistakes, but driver changes went well, pit stops went well, fuel economy was good, dry pace was good.
"We go to Bathurst confident, but if it's wet we have a lot of work to do."
Track action at Mount Panorama commences on Thursday October 8.
