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.

Winterbottom, driving his brand new #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon put in a stellar performance to finish third in the race, all the while having to endure a ten-second drive-through penalty after incorrectly lining up on the grid prior to the race.

Qualifying solidly, Winterbottom was bumped up to start second on the grid after Garth Tander was relegated from second position to the back of the grid following a stewards inquiry into the Holden Racing Team using an incompressible device (car jack) during qualifying. Eventual race winner and 2009 champion Jamie Whincup started from pole with teammate Craig Lowndes finishing in second place.

Showing incredible race pace, Winterbottom stormed off the line beating Whincup to the first corner and led the race for the ensuing seven laps until Whincup managed to sneak past.

After serving his ten-second drive-through penalty, Frosty faced a massive 14 second gap to the leaders but in a brilliant display of tenacious driving was able to peg that gap to just three seconds in the final laps – proving the Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon is going to be a machine to be reckoned with in 2010.

“We’re still finding our feet a liitle with this new car so to perform the way we did today is pretty satisfying,” Winterbottom said.

“The car looks the same from the outside but it’s a different beast on the inside so to have the pace we did and tyre life we did is promising … I’ll have to adjust my driving style a bit to suit and get the most out of it but overall it’s a great package to debut with.”

“I’m really excited with the progress we made in that race … in particular the gains we were able to make even after copping the ten second penalty,” he added.

Frosty’s FPR teammate Steve Richards also drove a great race making up six places from his qualifying position of 16th.

Race two of the YAS 400 at Yas Marina will be staged 1.05am tomorrow morning AEDST.

Both drivers emerged from today’s sessions confident their FPR Falcons have what it takes for a strong showing in this weekend’s races.

“I’m pretty happy at the moment,” Winterbottom said.

“The car was really good … and we made some great progress considering we didn’t start the sessions all that strong – the best thing is we were able to pin-point exactly what needed to be tweaked and the results were instantaneous which is a great sign that we’re on the right track.

“I struggled with over-steer early on but working with Campbell (Mark’s new engineer – Little) we were able to make sense of what the car was doing and quickly turn it around … it’s going to be a great race car,” Winterbottom added.

Winterbottom’s teammate Steve Richards also showed promise in opening practice posting the seventh quickest time of the day.

“This circuit is magnificent!” Richards beamed.

“There’s so much going on out there on a new circuit … you’re trying different gear selection, brake bias, turn in, how much kerb you can use … but when you get it altogether towards the end it feels pretty good,” he added.

FPR Team Principal Tim Edwards was also pleased with today’s performance.

“That was a very encouraging start to the year,” Edwards said.

“Today was all about understanding the cars and understanding the circuit.

“We weren’t out there to break lap records – we spent the majority of the session trying to find the right line and that’s where most of the speed came from in the closing laps – just trying to use as much of the kerb as we could and the boys did a great job in doing that,” he added.

Combined practice times – Yas V8 400 – Abu Dhabi 

1. #9 Shane Van Gisbergen 1:58.2230 
2. #888 Craig Lowndes 1:58.3720 
3. #5 Mark Winterbottom 1:58.5260 
4. #4 Alex Davison 1:58.5600 
5. #14 Jason Bright 1:59.1360 
6. #11 Jason Bargwanna 1:59.3350 
7. #6 Steven Richards 1:59.3390 
8. #19 Jonathon Webb 1:59.3970 
9. #1 Jamie Whincup 1:59.5130 
10. #18 James Courtney 1:59.7090

TV Coverage: Channel 7 nationally on Saturday (12.30-4.30pm AEDST) and Sunday (1.30-4.30pm AEDST)

After one of the shortest off-seasons in recent memory, the V8 Supercar Championship Series will make history with this event being the first time that the championship has commenced on foreign soil – and our boys in blue are as ready as ever to start the year off with some strong results.

Round one at Abu Dhabi will see the debut of Mark Winterbottom’s brand new #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon – after a brief shakedown and test at Winton last week – and for the first time Mark will have respected engineer Campbell Little running the numbers for him in the garage as he aims to go one better than his runner-up finish in 2008.

“Although it was a relatively short off-season it feels like an eternity since we were racing at Homebush,” Winterbottom said.

“I’ve never looked forward more to starting a season than this one … with a new car, new engineer and new circuit I think it’s going to make for some great racing,” he added.

“I was lucky enough to come over here (Abu Dhabi) a few weeks ago and get a sneak preview of the circuit and get a few laps in … I don’t think there’s been a night since that I haven’t gone to bed playing those laps over and over in my head … I’m itching to get back out there!,”

Also out to prove a point this year will be tour ‘veteran’ Steve Richards who returns to the #6 FPR Falcon with a new title sponsor in Dunlop Super Dealers.

“Like Frosty, I have never looked forward to the start of a season like I have this one,” Richards said.

“We have been training pretty hard over the summer for this moment, so physically I’m in pretty good shape to handle the heat and the 200km we’ll be doing each day … from an engineering perspective the team in the workshop have been working just as hard on setting me up with a great car so I’m confident we can convert that into some decent points on the weekend.”

The most experienced V8 Supercar driver in a Ford on the grid in 2010, Richo knows the job at hand and what he needs to do to achieve it. The two-time Bathurst winner, will be lining up for his 169th Australian Touring Car/V8 Supercar Championship Series start in Abu Dhabi, taking him to eighth on the all-time list and second of current active full-time drivers (behind Russell Ingall on 176 starts).

Length: 4.5-kilometres

Race Format: 2 x 200 kilometre races, one on Friday, one on Saturday (local time)

TV Coverage: Channel 7 nationally on Saturday (12.30-4.30pm) and Sunday (1.30-4.30pm)

Richards will drive the Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon in this year’s series after the team announced the new naming sponsorship this afternoon.

Dunlop has been a supporter of Ford Performance Racing since the team’s inception, so making the step up to naming rights sponsor a logical one.

“Dunlop has been a proud and active sponsor of FPR since the team’s creation in 2002, so to see a fully livered Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon on the track in 2010 reflects the value we both hold in this relationship,” FPR Team Principle Tim Edwards said.

“It’s pleasing to see an existing, blue chip sponsor stepping up to take on naming entitlements.

“In many ways it’s a logical step, Dunlop is obviously aware of the commercial advantages of owning a competitive car – we can now take this long standing support to the next level,” Edwards said.

While Dunlop is a long term supporter of V8 Supercars and has been the series control tyre supplier since 2002, the Dunlop Super Dealer sponsorship is a first for the tyre retailer.

“This partnership marks the first time the Dunlop Super Dealer retail network has come together to be involved in the V8 Supercar Championship Series,” said Phillip Cavagna, Vice President of Marketing, Dunlop Tyres.

“We are extremely excited to be the naming rights sponsor on Steven Richards’ number 6 Ford Performance Racing Falcon for the 2010 Series, as well as to have Dunlop continue our ongoing partnership of the entire FPR team.

“Dunlop is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high and ultra high performance tyres with an impressive track record of motorsport success, so Ford Performance Racing is a great fit for our brand.

“It also reinforces Dunlop’s long standing relationship with Ford Australia and Ford Performance Vehicles to engineer and supply original equipment tyres for their new road cars.”

Taking over the naming rights of Steven Richards’ FPR Ford Falcon is a perfect fit for the tyre dealer as the popular driver has been an ambassador to the business for several years.

“Personally I couldn’t be happier; I’ve done a lot of work with Dunlop Super Dealers over the years, so to have my car emblazoned with their colours is brilliant,” Steven Richards said.

“I’m definitely looking forward to the new season; I’m expecting the Dunlop Super Dealer FPR Falcon will be a contender this year.”