Frosty under fire at Ipswich V8s

Red Bull Racing turned up the heat on V8 Supercars championship leader Mark Winterbottom by out-qualifying the Ford star at Ipswich.

Winterbottom will be forced to fight his way through the pack in both 100km races at Queensland Raceway on Saturday.

His rivals Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes will start both events ahead of the Ford Performance Racing driver, who holds a 96-point lead going into eighth round of the championship.

Lowndes will start the first race from pole position alongside Whincup with young Volvo driver Scott McLaughlin in third spot on the grid.

The Holden pair then qualified third and fourth for the second race, with McLaughlin snaring pole position ahead of Nissan’s Michael Caruso.

Winterbottom, who said qualifying will be crucial on the tight 3.12km circuit, will start from seventh and 11th respectively.

The Ford ace said a change in wind direction from Friday had caught his team out.

“Struggling a bit,” Winterbottom told the Seven Network.

“It’s tough out there.”

Saturday’s first 100km race gets underway at 2.25pm with the second event to start at 4.30pm.

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