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Frosty Takes Pole and Trifecta in Clean Sweep Weekend for Ford

Staff, Tuesday May 13, 2008.

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Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom was unstoppable at round four of the V8 Supercars, taking pole position in Saturday’s qualifying and progressing to three 50 lap race wins at Barbagallo Raceway, putting him atop the podium today in Perth.
Breaking Ford’s drought in the west, the round win saw the first Ford win since Marcos Ambrose took out the event in 2003.
The maximum points haul of 300 elevated Winterbottom to third in the Championship standings.

“I’ve never been in such a good car, a V8 Supercar that performed so well, ” said Mark Winterbottom.
“The three races were clean, everything was clean, I got out after each 50 lap stint and felt incredibly good.
In the past Perth has been Holden territory, so to knock off such a solid victory is an achievement. We wanted to try and survive, we fought and we won.”

The Blue Oval is now firmly in front in the manufacturer’s Championship with three wins in four rounds thanks to Jamie Whincup clinching Clipsal and Will Davison blitzing at Eastern Creek.
“It was an extremely fitting weekend for Ford, to break a drought at a track where we traditionally haven’t had a lot of success, at an event where our teams were honoring Geoff Polities, was great to see,” said Ford Racing Manager Ray Price.

“FPR is going from strength to strength, their car pace is increasingly quick which was evident by the sheer gap that Mark had today, it was around four seconds which is significant in such a competitive sport.”
“Our developments with the FG V8 Supercar are coming along nicely, and with the manufacturer’s Championship heading in the right direction things are certainly looking very positive for the Blue Oval.”

Whincup also had a stellar weekend despite qualifying poorly in the 20’s he made up significant ground to bring the #88 Falcon across the line third in race three and concurrently graced the third step of the podium for the round.

The much needed ground was gained after a devastating weekend in Hamilton New Zealand which saw him sidelined for the event after a debilitating crash in qualifying, Whincup now sits fourth in the Championship.

Team Vodafone’s success was shared by Craig Lowndes who engaged in an intense tussle with his team-mate and ended just behind him, the #888 Falcon fourth in race three and fourth for the weekend.
Ford’s V8 Supercar drivers will hit the track again at Sandown in Melbourne from June 7-9, continuing to battle it out in Australia’s premier motorsport category.