After starting strongly from 3^rd place on the grid, Winterbottom faced the first of several impediments to what could have been his first win of the year when his Falcon unexpectedly stalled upon entering pit lane and then again immediately after his pit stop.

Having lost a further 15 seconds to the leaders Jamie Whincup and Garth Tander, Winterbottom rejoined the race back in 12^th place – and over the next four laps drove voraciously making several exceptional passing moves to climb back up to fifth position.

Winterbottom continued his climb towards the front until the combination of a rain kissed track and debris from a disintegrating kerb at turn eight caused him to slide into the wall which caused a drop in fuel pressure and hence a lack of grunt allowing James Courtney to pass.

With Jamie Whincup removed from the picture thanks to a ‘Mechanic Black Flag’, Winterbottom managed to hold off a tenacious Shane Van Gisbergen to cross the line in third place.

“I think I owe the boys a few beers tonight because the car was great but the driver made a few errors … that really was ‘the one that got away’ … the boys really delivered a car today that could win,” Winterbottom said.

“I went too hard into turn eight and as a result I didn’t have the ‘go’ left to have a crack at Tander towards the end.

Prior to that our pace was great … we still have a few gremlins to iron out but I think the car is where it needs to be to win races,” he added.

“ It was a great race though … especially when the rain came – people were diving down the inside, outside, going sideways – bits were flying off cars … it was on for young and old so I’m sure the spectators an viewers at home would have got their money’s worth.”

Winterbottom maintains second place on the V8 Supercar Championship points table with 771 points, just 57 behind leader Jamie Whincup.

Dunlop Super Dealer Falcon pilot Steve Richards also put in a valiant effort to come home in 13^th place.

Richards battled rear-brake locking early on, hindering how deep and late he could pull his FPR Falcon up costing him valuable time every lap.

“The first session was really difficult on the old tyres,” Richards said.

“The second and third stints were much better but the car still liked to pitch its nose in under brakes … we’ll go through the data this week and find a solution so we’re good to go in a fortnight at the GP.”

  CLIPSAL 500 RACE TWO: Full results

1 Garth Tander – Holden – lap 78
2 James Courtney – Ford – lap 78
3 Mark Winterbottom – Ford – lap 78
4 Shane van Gisbergen – Ford – lap 78
5 Paul Dumbrell – Ford – lap 78
6 Rick Kelly – Holden – lap 78
7 Tony D’Alberto – Holden – lap 78
8 Steven Johnson – Ford – lap 78
9 Jason Richards – Holden -lap 78
10 Michael Caruso – Holden – lap 78
11 Lee Holdsworth – Holden – lap 78
12 Todd Kelly – Holden – lap 78
13 Steven Richards – Ford – lap 78
14 Will Davison – Holden – lap 78
15 Jonathon Webb – Ford – lap 78
16 Craig Lowndes – Holden – lap 78
17 Tim Slade – Ford – lap 78
18 Jamie Whincup – Holden – lap 78
19 Russell Ingall – Holden – lap 78
20 Karl Reindler – Holden – lap 77
21 Tony Ricciardello – Holden – lap 77
22 Dean Fiore – Ford – lap 77
23 Alex Davison – Ford – lap 77
24 Jason Bargwanna – Holden – lap 77
25 Daniel Gaunt – Holden – lap 77
26 Jason Bright – Holden – lap 77
27 Fabian Coulthard – Holden – lap 62
DNF Greg Murphy – Holden – lap 2

Contesting the third round of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship, FPR drivers Steve Richards and Mark Winterbottom copped the brunt of several aggressive moves staged by their opponents.

Starting from third place on the grid, Winterbottom held his own against Garth Tander and Jamie Whincup before he was punted by Ford compatriot Steven Johnson on lap 18.

Suffering major damage to his rear spoiler, Winterbottom was called to the pits for the required repairs – but soon after returning to the track, deeper problems caused by the shunt started to surface eventually requiring another unscheduled stop, costing the Orrcon Steel pilot several laps.

With the problem sorted, Winterbottom worked his way through the back markers eventually finishing in 21^st position.

“It was a real shame today,” Winterbottom reflected.

“Apart from the obvious dramas caused by the shunt, the Orrcon Steel Falcon was really, really good … sadly the highlight for me was the move I pulled on Shane (Van Gisbergen) for 23^rd position … but you probably missed that!” Winterbottom joked.

“In all seriousness, we made the best of a bad situation and dialed through a few different settings for the remainder of the session so we’re actually looking in pretty good shape for tomorrow.”

Steve Richards’ fate was much better this afternoon.

After a promising start and great strategy playing out, Richo was tagged and turned on lap 40 by namesake Jason Richards – but soon found himself back in his rightful position when several cars in front of him ended up in the wall.

With a strong fuel strategy playing in his favour, Richo put his head down but a brake lock up on fresh tyres with 14 laps to go – saw him spear down the escape road and out of contention for a top ten finish – he eventually crossed the line in 17^th.

“It was pretty crazy out there … but it always is,” Richo said.

“The middle stint was actually the best the car has felt this year so I’m confident we’ll keep progressing this weekend … being punted twice today didn’t help our cause but hopefully that’s enough of that for the weekend and we can get some solid racing in and even better results tomorrow.”

Round three of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship continues tomorrow with qualifying for race two at 11.00am – with the race starting at 2.35pm.

CLIPSAL 500 RACE ONE: Full results

1 Garth Tander – Holden L. 78
2 James Courtney – Ford L. 78
3 Lee Holdsworth – Holden L. 78
4 Jamie Whincup – Holden L. 78
5 Paul Dumbrell – Ford L.78
6 Jason Bright – Holden L.78
7 Fabian Coulthard – Holden L.78
8 Michael Caruso – Holden L.78
9 Will Davison – Holden L. 78
10 Russell Ingall – Holden L.78
11 Alex Davison – Ford L. 78
12 Steven Johnson – Ford L. 78
13 Todd Kelly – Holden L. 78
14 Tony D’Alberto – Holden L. 78
15 Jonathon Webb – Ford L. 78
16 Dean Fiore – Ford L. 78
17 Steven Richards – Ford L. 78
18 Daniel Gaunt – Holden L. 78
19 Craig Lowndes – Holden L. 78
20 Tony Ricciardello – Holden L. 78
21 Mark Winterbottom – Ford L. 75
22 Shane Van Gisbergen – Ford L. 74
23 Rick Kelly – Holden L. 66
DNF Jason Richards – Holden L. 39
DNF Greg Murphy – Holden L. 38
DNF Karl Reindler – Holden L. 31
DNF Tim Slade – Ford L. 12
DNF Jason Bargwanna – Holden L. 2
DNS Andrew Thompson – Holden

“I was pretty happy with the actual set-up on the Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon. Other drivers put new tyres on at the end, which makes you look a worse than what your time really is,” said Mark Winterbottom.

“My best lap time was set on my final flying lap on 30 lap old tyres, we made some good progress with the set-up of the car and it feels like it is going to be very strong over the longer runs.

“I’m really looking forward to the race, this car is certainly the easiest car that I’ve driven around here, it is very stable and I’m very confident for the weekend ahead,” he added.

Steve Richards was equally upbeat. 

“Everything went to plan throughout today’s session, we had a schedule of changes that we wanted to make and worked to that schedule,” Richo said.

“All of the changes to the set-up that we made were positive and overall I’m pretty pleased with the outcome of the day.

“We our second set of new tyres on late in the session, we wanted to make sure that the car will be well balanced for when we put new tyres on for qualifying.”

The action on track tomorrow will consist of qualifying at 10:30am followed by the top ten shootout at 11:30am and race one at 2:35pm. Sunday will be highlighted by a 20-minute qualifying session and the final 78-lap encounter.

The traditional season-starter may have been pushed back on the calendar this year by the fly-away races in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, but FPR enter the punishing street event well-placed after solid results in the Middle East.

Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon driver Steve Richards has certainly proven to be the ‘marathon man’ of the Clipsal 500. Not only has the driver of the #6 Dunlop Super Dealer Falcon competed in every Clipsal 500 since it began in 1999, but he also has finished in 21 of the 22 days of racing, having his first and only retirement on Saturday last year.

Amazingly, the two-time Bathurst winner has completed 1689 of the 1716 laps of racing conducted in the event in its history – an impressive record.

With Lowndes now at Holden, Steve is the only Ford-mounted driver in this year’s field to have competed in every Clipsal 500.

Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon driver Mark Winterbottom proved in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain to be one of the main challengers for the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series with four consecutive podium finishes in his brand new #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon and will be looking to strengthen his already stellar effort with more of the same this weekend.

Winterbottom trails title leader Jamie Whincup by only 57 points and is keen to close the gap in the Clipsal 500.

FPR’s young endurance driver James Moffat will also kick off his chase for the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series in Adelaide. Last year’s series runner-up will drive an FPR-prepared Falcon backed by Norton 360 under the Ford Rising Stars Racing banner for the full seven-round championship. Last year he won his first ever V8 Supercar race on debut in Adelaide, finishing second for the round and will be looking to go one better this year.

Date: March 12-14, 2010

Circuit: Adelaide Parklands street circuit, South Australia

Length: 3.2-kilometres

Race Format: 2 x 250 kilometre races, one on Saturday, one on Sunday

TV Coverage: Channel 7 nationally on Saturday March 13 (1.30-5.30pm AEDST) and Sunday March 14 (2.00-5.30pm AEDST)

Starting on the front row of the grid, the Ford Performance Racing driver pushed TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup to his fourth consecutive victory after leading the race in its early stages.

Winterbottom and Whincup stormed away from the field over the 37 laps, eventually crossing the finishing line some 14 seconds ahead of third place-getter Shane Van Gisbergen.

 “This is a really promising start to the season,” Winterbottom said.

“Campbell’s (Mark’s engineer – Little) doing a great job and the synergy between us and the car is improving every time we hit the track.

“Jamie’s having a pretty good run at the moment but we’re not making it easy for him – and don’t plan on doing so for the rest of the season,” Winterbottom added.

Winterbottom’s Ford Performance Racing teammate Steven Richards finished the final race in the Middle East in 15^th place with a disastrous pit stop due to a cross-threaded wheel nut costing him a top-ten finish.

“It’s been a tough weekend!” Richo quipped, making the understatement of the round.

“These things (such as the wheel nut and brake issues) happen probably once every 100 races so you have to take it lightly.

“The team did everything they could to give me a competitive Dunlop Super Dealer Falcon – and bar the problems – we qualified well and had great race pace which is promising when we come home and race Clipsal in a fortnight.”

Team Principal Tim Edwards was also buoyed by this weekend’s results.

“Obviously we’d like to be winning some races but overall the indications are that we’re on the right track to some better performances this year.

“I really feel for Steve (Richards) … we let him down this weekend but against the adversity he put his head down and did the best job he could which is a real credit to his character … his qualifying efforts and race pace was up there so without the dramas the result would have been much better,” Edwards added.

The FPR Falcons next take to the track in Adelaide for Event Three of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship at the Clipsal 500 on March 11-14.

Winterbottom again proved to be the greatest threat to Jamie Whincup’s push for a third straight championship after starting third on the grid in the first of two 200km races this weekend.

After a blinding start, Winterbottom passed fellow Ford racer Shane Van Gisbergen for second but was unable to hunt Whincup down who stormed to his third consecutive win of the year.

“The car is definitely improving as we go on … it’s a learning process that is rapidly developing,” Winterbottom said of his new Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon.

“The day will come. At the moment we will keep tuning what we have got, keep bagging points, keep learning and when the time comes it will come quickly,” Winterbottom said.

 “At the moment two seconds and a third is a great start. We are definitely stronger than we were at the start of last year so who knows … you can’t control how well the other teams are going. Jamie is having a great run so to finish second when he is best on the day is all you can do.

 “He is on top of his game in a team with the momentum they have got. I have the best engineer in pit lane so I’ve got full faith that we can do the job.”

Winterbottom’s teammate Steve Richards run of bad luck continued in Bahrain when he fell victim to a brake failure after just four laps – a blight on an otherwise great performance from the Dunlop Super Dealer Falcon pilot after securing seventh on the starting grid.

“Sure these things are disappointing but the car was showing some great speed prior (to the failure) so we’ll have a good look through the car and make sure she’s competitive again in race two,” Richards said.

“The car probably wasn’t up to scratch speed-wise in Abu Dhabi but we’ve sorted that and today’s qualifying was testament to the positive changes we have made … we’ll put today behind us go out again tomorrow and give it another red-hot crack,” he added.

 Race two in Bahrain starts at 11.35pm AEDST and you can catch all the action of Race one on the Seven Network at 1.30pm today.

1  Jamie Whincup  H  01:21:37.4276

2  Mark Winterbottom  F  01:21:40.8428

3  Craig Lowndes  H  01:21:49.2215

4  Garth Tander  H  01:21:50.8473

5  Shane Van Gisbergen  F  01:22:03.5046

6  James Courtney  F  01:22:04.8363

7  Russell Ingall  H  01:22:15.8139

8  Will Davison  H  01:22:17.0904

9  Rick Kelly  H  01:22:20.5786

10  Michael Caruso  H  01:22:21.4866

11  Steven Johnson  F  01:22:23.0996

12  Lee Holdsworth  H  01:22:23.8431

13  Jason Bright  H  01:22:37.0650

14  Jonathon Webb  F  01:22:45.4333

15  Jason Bargwanna  H  01:22:47.0381

16  Greg Murphy  H  01:22:50.9647

17  Fabian Coulthard  H  01:22:51.8527

18  Alex Davison  F  01:22:52.0546

19  Jason Richards  H  01:22:57.7692

20  Todd Kelly  H  01:23:01.2271

21  Tim Slade  F  01:23:06.0047

22  Andrew Thompson  H  01:23:13.3292

23  Tony D’Alberto  H  01:23:25.7056

24  Karl Reindler  H  01:21:57.1863

25  Tony Ricciardello  H  01:23:06.8054

26  Daniel Gaunt  H  01:23:29.0373

27  Paul Dumbrell  F  01:21:54.1815

DNF  Steven Richards  F  01:23:38.2690

DNF  Dean Fiore  F  11:22.2708

Starting the final 200km race from pole positon, Winterbottom was beaten off the line by TeamVodaphone’s Jamie Whincup, and after falling back as far as fifth place, clawed his way back into second place to finish with his second podium for the weekend.

Winterbottom’s strong performance this weekend is a great boost for the Campbellfield powerhouse after the first outing of the new #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon.

“It was a pretty promising start to the season … to campaign a new car on a new track and make the gains we did is  real credit to the team.

“As a driver I have to probably tune myself a little to the changes but that will come qucikly … if we can continue the progress in Bahrain – which is a circuit that has been good to us in the past – then I think we should be able to come home looking pretty good,” Winterbottom said.

While Winterbottom pretty much had a dream start to his championship chase, his FPR teammate Steve Richards wasn’t so fortunate, struggling to find the right set-up in his #6 Dunlop Super Dealers FPR Falcon at the foreign Yas Marina Circuit.

“It was a tough weekend and although I would have liked to been further up the field, I think we made some great progress with regards to development with the car even if that wasn’t reflected the results.

“I think we’ll see an improvement in Bahrain – I ran solidly in the top ten there last year and with a few changes we should be able to better that this year,” Richards said.

Richards started the second race in 20th position, an after a spin in the opening lap, managed to make gains on rivals to finish in 16th place.

The FPR team now head across the desert to Bahrain for the second round of the 2010 championship which will be held next weekend.