MOTORSPORT: Fans give Ford hope at Bathurst
All the form points to another Holden victory in Sunday's Bathurst 1000 but in the eyes of fans three of the best chances are FordsThree of the best five chances in the Great Race are Ford combinations according to V8 Supercar fans surveyed by Auto Action magazine in a Facebook poll.
While Lowndes and Skaife -- the defending Bathurst winners and victors at the Phillip Island 500 three weeks ago -- scored a mammoth 59.1 per cent of votes in the poll, New Zealanders Shane Van Gisbergen and John McIntyre in a Stone Brothers Ford emerged as second favourites with the fans on 15.5 per cent.
Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom (pictured) and Steven Richards came in as third favourites with 5.2 per cent of the vote, ahead of Jason Bright and Andrew Jones in a Brad Jones Racing Holden on 4.9 per cent. Steven Johnson and David Besnard in a Dick Johnson Ford have been voted fifth favourite with 4.6 per cent.
In the eyes of the fans neither V8 Supercar Championship leader Jamie Whincup -- who is sharing his Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden with Andrew Thompson this weekend -- nor either of the Holden Racing Team Commodores -- to be driven by Garth Tander-Nick Percat and James Courtney-Cameron McConville -- has much chance of winning on Sunday.
Yet every Bathurst 1000 in the past decade has been won either by HRT or Triple Eight cars.
Holden has had seven wins in those 10 years to Ford's three, but the Blue Oval's hat-trick in 2006, '07 and '08 came courtesy of Triple Eight which has subsequently switched to running Holdens. This season Holden has won 17 of the 19 championship races. Including the three non-championship races at the Australian Grand Prix the scoreline is 20-2.
Ford's only winner this year has been Van Gisbergen -- in one of the races at Hamilton, New Zealand, and again in Darwin. While Van Gisbergen is given the best chance among the Ford fold of winning Bathurst by the fans, it is something of a surprise that Winterbottom is thought to be the Blue Oval's next best chance -- ahead of Will Davison in the second FPR entry with Luke Youlden. And Winterbottom is considered by the fans a more likely winner than either Whincup, the sport's dominant driver over recent seasons, or Tander, a multiple Bathurst victor and multiple race winner amid HRT's inconsistency this season.
However, Winterbottom has a vastly experienced co-driver and two-time Bathurst winner, Steven Richards, while Whincup and Tander have inexperienced partners -- Andrew Thompson and Nick Percat respectively.
Winterbottom, on whose shoulders Ford has long pinned its V8 Supercar hopes, says his strategy as he strives for his first Bathurst win is simply "to survive" in good shape until the last hour of the 161-lap race.
"It's a very long day," Winterbottom says. He anticipates, based on history, that there will be a safety car out on the track about 4pm.
"When that safety car comes out, probably with 25 laps to go, it then becomes a sprint to the finish... So you've got to be well-positioned -- have straight steering, engine not over-revved all day, and your tyres in good condition.
"Then you really push on in that last stint. That's what will win you Bathurst or lose you Bathurst.
"So it's all about preparation for that last 25 laps."
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