It’s rare to hear Holden’s leading team owner dish out compliments to fierce V8 Supercar rival Ford.
But it doesn’t come without insult.
Red Bull Racing Australia boss Roland Dane has applauded the early-season efforts of Ford Performance Racing after they took the championship lead last round.
Star driver Mark Winterbottom leapfrogged veteran Craig Lowndes with two wins and a second-place finish in Auckland a fortnight ago, giving him a 107-point advantage heading into next week’s event in Perth.
“It’s about time that they showed what they can do,” Dane told AAP.
“For years they talked about it and not done it. But they’ve done a very good job so far this season.
“Finally they’re up there, which is a good thing for the sport.”
Winterbottom has finished in the top five in each of his past eight seasons with FPR, but is still chasing that elusive title win.
This year might be his best chance, though, as Lowndes and Red Bull teammate Jamie Whincup endure a less-than-perfect start to 2014.
Lowndes, although second in the championship, had “one of the worst weekends in a long time” in New Zealand, finishing 16th, 10th and 20th in three of the four races.
Five-time defending champion Whincup fared slightly better – his best results were two fourth placings.
He has failed to get on the podium in any of the past seven races, making this his longest run without a top-three finish since joining the team in 2006.
Whincup now sits fifth overall.
“It is hard to see him there, but … as soon as you drill down you see a different picture,” Dane said.
“He had a win taken away from him in dubious circumstances at Adelaide and unfortunate unreliability in New Zealand when he was winning.”
Whincup has a new engineer this season in David Cauchi, after Mark Dutton was promoted to team manager. Lowndes’ engineer Jeromy Moore also doubles as chief designer.
Dane admitted “growing pains” around the off-season reshuffle were to blame for some of Red Bull’s struggles.
“I certainly don’t regret them because you never get people to grow unless you give them a chance. It’s all part of learning,” he said.
