Prodrive Racing (Australia)’s Cameron Waters has claimed fourth place in race 10 at the Winton SuperSprint as teammate Chaz Mostert recovered from a challenging qualifying session. Consistent lap times, stellar speed and clean racing were to thank in race 10 with Waters confident a podium is not too far away for the Monster Energy FG X. Despite qualifying in 17th position, an alternate strategy and an extended final stint enabled Mostert to move through the field, pushing his tyres on a stint of over 30 laps. With enough left in the tank to gain positions in the final 14 laps, Mostert has taken home a solid bank of points after finishing eighth. Mark Winterbottom has left Winton Motor Raceway frustrated after an incident with Alex Rullo at the safety car restart, pushing him back to 11th place. Rullo, a lap down, ran Winterbottom wide at turn two after making a mistake at turn one, resulting in damage to Winterbottom’s Ford. The Bottle-O Racing driver dropped a further two spots in the final laps, finishing 13th. Jason Bright has again suffered a lap-one incident, being spun at turn two. Encouraging speed enabled Bright to finish 18th however consistency will become a focus moving forward.
Mark Winterbottom – #5 The Bottle-O PRA Ford:
Qualifying: 8th – 1m19.60s
Race 10: 13th
“We were going alright in that race. We were p6 on the road or whatever but it’s just frustrating. They’ve got this licence criteria and it’s just stupid, parking up on an apex with 20 cars coming at you. It ruined my race. He’s still a lap down, finishes last, it doesn’t affect his day. We would have finished fifth or sixth where we were and then I got damage when I had to go around him on the marbles. In the race we were doing the quickest first and last sector so we were quite quick until the incident.”
Cameron Waters – #6 Monster Energy PRA Ford:
Qualifying: 4th – 1m19.49s
Race 10: 4th
“I’m really happy with today. We had the pace in qualifying, we probably could have been a little bit better in qualifying but then in the race we had a really good car. I tried to stick to consistent lap times and tried to keep it clean and just really push hard at the end to try and close the gap to Coulthard and Whincup. I was praying they’d get together and I’d sneak through but it wasn’t to be. Overall I’m ecstatic for the team and the sponsors and hopefully that podium’s not too far away.”
Qualifying: 17th – 1m19.86s
Race 10: 8th
“Tough day. Qualifying didn’t go the way we wanted so in the race we just drove around racing people and cars kept racing us out of the pits but we ended up snagging a top 10. It wasn’t a bad day from where we started but we probably shouldn’t have started from back there in the first place. I’m looking forward to the break and then getting to some warmer weather in Darwin.”
Jason Bright – #56 MEGA Bulk Fuels PRA Ford:
Qualifying: 16th – 1m19.83s
Race 10: 18th
“It was disappointing to not get through lap one again. I’m really happy with the car though. We were able to race them out there and get around cars so we’re making some really good progress there. If we can qualify well and have a good start, get around lap one, we’ll have a good race.”
Tim Edwards – Team Principal:
“Cam did a fantastic job today. His pace was excellent, he was consistent on track and to get fourth is really promising. To draw on a negative, the incident with Rullo was disgraceful. His mistake cost Frosty eight positions, pushed him wide and caused damage to the car. It’s ridiculous; Frosty was driving wounded after that. Back to a positive, Chaz made a good recovery after a tough qualifying session. To make up that many points on a track as tight as this is great so he did really well.”
1) Shane van Gisbergen – Triple Eight
2) Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight
3) Fabian Coulthard – DJR Team Penske
4) Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing
8) Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing
13) Mark Winterbottom – The Bottle-O Racing Team
18) Jason Bright – MEGA Racing
1) Fabian Coulthard – DJR Team Penske: 1060
2) Jamie Whincup – Triple Eight: 1056
3) Scott McLaughlin – DJR Team Penske: 1032
4) Shane van Gisbergen – Triple Eight: 1023
5) Chaz Mostert – Supercheap Auto Racing: 861
7) Mark Winterbottom – The Bottle-O Racing Team: 798
10) Cameron Waters – Monster Energy Racing: 703
21) Jason Bright – MEGA Racing: 429
1) DJR Team Penske: 2127
2) Triple Eight: 2079
3) Prodrive Racing Australia: 1536
