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Winterbottom wins

Winterbottom wins

07/11/2010 05:41:58 AM

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Ford's Mark Winterbottom has held off drivers' championship leader James Courtney to win Race 16 in the V8 Supercars at Townsville on Sunday.

Holden's Jamie Whincup amazingly finished 23rd from as many race finishers, backing up from Saturday's success in Race 15, and the poor performance leaves him 120 points behind Courtney in the championship, after he trailed by just 18 on Saturday night.

Garth Tander was the highest-placed Holden, finishing third.

It was Winterbottom's second victory on the streets of Townsville this season, and selflessly, he was happy to see fellow Ford's around him in the placings.

"To have three FPR Falcons finish in the top five today is just awesome," Winterbottom said.

"It’s a real credit to the guys who have been working so hard to get us back to the podium."

"That was one of the best wins for me so far … our strategy and pit stops were just awesome."

Winterbottom pitted early to get himself out of traffic, and the clean air and track that he found after the stop was pivotal to the victory.

"The call to pull me in early definitely was the turning point of the race," he said.

"The boys did an awesome stop and from there I was able to put my head down and make up some time out of sequence."

"On my second stop it was a late call and we’ve actually rehearsed last minute pit stop calls so the guys were really under pressure but pulled it off beautifully."

"From there with fresh rubber I was able to pull away and make a handy gap," he said.

"Then the safety car was called and my gap was eroded which was a bit of a blow but in the end I managed to hold off James … those last few laps were pretty hectic but it just made the win all that more enjoyable."

The win propelled Winterbottom into third place in the driver's championship, 324 adrift of leader Courtney and 204 behind Whincup.

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images

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