Ford Performance Racing (FPR) enjoyed a welcome return to the front of the field last weekend in Darwin where Mark Winterbottom claimed back-to-back pole positions and was rewarded with a podium after an action-packed sixth event of the 2011 V8 Supercar season.
Winterbottom grabbed provisional pole on Saturday morning at Hidden Valley before finishing the job with top spot in the shootout where he bested chief rival Jamie Whincup by just 0.005s.
The driver of the #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon reacted quickly when the lights went out and Winterbottom, who later described the launch as “probably the best start of my career”, easily led the field into turn one.
Winterbottom used the obvious pace of his Falcon to pull away from the field and was holding a comfortable advantage over second place Whincup until a late-race safety car bunched the field.
The Factory Ford driver maintained speed as required while the safety car returned to pit lane but as he led the field to the restart he was hit from behind by Whincup, pushing him wide and allowing his pursuer alongside as they charged down the 1.1-kilometre-long front straight.
A four car wide lead pack attempted to make it through turn one but contact between the group saw Winterbottom spin and fellow Ford driver Shane van Gisbergen run off the track.
Although Winterbottom was denied victory his team-mate Will Davison avoided the chaos and capped an impressive drive with fifth place after starting 20th due to a mistake in qualifying.
Davison made up for his mistake on Sunday and qualified sixth, though just 0.14s behind his team-mate who was again on pole in arguably the closest session in memory as all 28 cars were covered by 0.7s.
Winterbottom and Davison ran in the lead pack for much of the race and both led the longer 69-lap race at different points.
Winterbottom enjoyed a much more trouble-free race to claim third place and Davison put in another storming drive to finish seventh after using an out of sequence strategy to climb from 14th to seventh in the final 10 laps.
The team believes it can carry its Top End form on to Townsville in a few weeks time for the championship’s seventh event in early July.
Last year Winterbottom scored a win and a podium finish in North Queensland and the team wants a repeat performance to claim its first win of 2011.
FPR sits third in the Team Championship points while Davison is sixth and Winterbottom ninth in the Driver Championship.