Winterbottom in disbelief over early damage
Mark Winterbottom was left in disbelief after picking up damage twice in the opening five laps.
Winterbottom and Michael Caruso came home 15th in Sunday’s Repco Bathurst 1000.
They were trailed home in 16th by the sister Team 18 car of Scott Pye and Tyler Everingham.
The 2013 Bathurst winner's 20th Great Race start was in disarray seconds after it started.
Winterbottom and Everingham started down the pack, and were caught up in the Mountain Straight concertina.
Jamie Whincup and Jack Perkins spun in front of the field, with those behind checking up.
Winterbottom sustained front damage when he had nowhere to go and hit the rear of Everingham.
The race restarted on lap 5, but was immediately neutralised after the multi-car crash at The Chase.
Winterbottom made his way through, but was tagged into a spin by Tony D’Alberto.
The #18 IRWIN Holden later ran towards the front, but a later brake rotor change drama resulted in time loss in the pit lane.
It was a bitter way for Winterbottom to celebrate his 20th Bathurst start.
“I can’t believe we had damage after Turn 1,” Winterbottom said.
"It was pretty chaotic, I can’t believe the way that race rolled out.
“We were wounded and we got back in the fight. We got back to fifth in my stint and we were going really good.
“Caruso did a great job, he was solid all day, no mistakes and it was looking really good.
“The brake rotor change put us down a lap, we had a few complications there which put us down a lap.
“At the end of the day we were 15th and a day of what could have been.
"I’m disappointed, this race is really special and we didn’t execute today.”
The #20 picked up damage from the Mountain Straight incident, but Pye managed to race into second by lap 44.
Everingham later went off at McPhillamy before Pye suffered contact from James Golding at Forrest Elbow late on.
"Really tough day here on the mountain, nothing really went our way,” Pye said.
"We did claw our way back to the top five in the early part of the race but we weren’t on our best game today.
"It was disappointing but our race was kind of done on the first lap.
"We got hit from behind which damaged the rear roll-bar which wasn’t repairable.
"It was one of those days, Bathurst is evil sometimes but we’ll keep coming back.”
The 2022 season will continue at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on October 28-30.
