Winterbottom leads Ford charge

Try telling Mark Winterbottom the V8 Supercars round at the Australian Grand Prix doesn’t count.

The Ford ace received a welcome confidence boost at the non-championship event at Albert Park, claiming back to back victories on Friday – his first wins since June last year.

Winterbottom led a Ford one-two finish with teammate Chaz Mostert in both races.

He finished 0.47 of a second ahead of Mostert in race two with Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen third.

He began the day pipping Mostert in the opening 12-lap race by 1.73 seconds with Holden’s championship series leader James Courtney third.

The wins came barely 24 hours after Winterbottom sealed his – and Ford’s – first pole position in more than a year, ending a 44-session drought.

It all but erased the scars of Winterbottom’s underwhelming season start in Adelaide that relegated him to seventh in the championship standings.

“The team has worked really hard and they deserve these results,” he said.

“The car is doing what we want it to do which is the most important thing.

“Even if you’re finishing fifth and it’s making sense, that’s what you want – winning is a bonus.

“Adelaide didn’t make sense to me in terms of the car.

“But minor changes are making a difference here and that’s when you really start making progress.”

Race two was cut from 12 to nine laps due to time lost when the safety car emerged after Dale Wood’s Holden spun backwards into a tyre wall following contact with Scott McLaughlin’s Volvo.

Holden’s six-time championship winner Jamie Whincup finished sixth and fifth respectively in the two races on Friday.

Race three will be held from 1520 AEDT on Saturday with a final 12-lap event scheduled for Sunday.

The championship proper resumes at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains from March 27-29.

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