Townsville: FPR race 1 report

FPR FALCONS FLY INTO TOP TEN AT TOWNSVILLE

Townsville proved a happy hunting ground today for Ford Performance Racing (FPR) who managed to bring home all three of their FPR Falcons in the top ten at the Townsville 400 this afternoon.

Orrcon Steel FPR pilot Mark Winterbottom secured his second consecutive podium finish, coming home in third place, while his Dunlop Super Dealer FPR teammate Steve Richards finished in eighth and to round it out the FPR-prepared Bottle-O Falcon of Paul Dumbrell crossed the finish line in tenth place.

"It's good to be back on the podium … even if it was for a third," Frosty said.

"Unfortunately the car was probably not good enough for a win today but I'll take the points," he added.

"I had cracker start but I just didn't have the pace today to keep Garth (Tander) and Jamie (eventual winner - Whincup) at bay … the car was feeling really good though but there was something niggling in the rear that I think we can fix for some more speed.

"I think I might have hit another kerb and done something to the rear suspension because I was suffering quite a bit of lateral slide in the rear pretty much from the start … I was able to manage it through adjusting my roll bars but eventually you start to sacrifice turn so finding the right balance proved tricky," Frosty said.

"We'll have a good look at it tonight and sort through a few things that hopefully should see us back with a bit more grunt tomorrow," he beamed.

Steve Richards' return to form continued this afternoon, with the Dunlop Super Dealer racer holding his ground to finish a solid eighth after a grueling 200km contest.

"This was another promising result," Richo said.

"Considering we were tearing up our rear tyres quite badly, to come home where we did highlights the other strengths and gains we've made over the past few months.

"We'll have play with a few things overnight to try and alleviate some of the tyre wear so we make the most of the top ten start we'll be chasing tomorrow morning."

Qualifying for race two of the Townsville 400 starts tomorrow morning at 11.00am local time.

-source: fpr