Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom ended Holden's V8 Supercar dominance in Perth with a clean sweep of the BigPond 400 after three races he described as a matter of survival.
'Frosty' revealed a little of his team's strategy for the year by declaring that the early rounds were not where FPR would make a move, instead pushing forward towards the endurance events with as many points as they can. However, he now sits third in the championship after completing a clean sweep of the races in Barbagallo.
“I've always said that Perth was one step along the way,” Winterbottom said, “We just tried to survive the first three events and fight while we can. You've got to make the most you can of each event and capitalise no matter how you might be travelling.”
Winterbottom had the perfect package in Perth, doing what reigning champion Garth Tander did last year by winning all three races.
“I've never had a car that was that good,” he reported, "You could drive around for 50 laps, get out and feel great. Sometimes they just go this way for whatever reason. It happened in Bahrain last year and again here - but with not much in between.”
The top four finished in the same order they had occupied in race two, with Winterbottom comfortably leading Tander and the two Vodafone Fords across the line. Tander was circumspect about his second place, which allowed him to take the championship lead.
“I'm happy with that,” Tander said, “We weren't quite there all weekend, but we battled away. It's good to be in the points lead, but I'd be happier if it was December. It's still early days, but it's been a great fightback from where we were in Adelaide.”
Third place again went to Jamie Whincup, who completed a sterling comeback after qualifying a lowly 22nd on Friday.
“I've breathed a sigh of relief, to be honest," he admitted, "From 22nd, I wasn't sure how I would recover, but I feel that third is a fair effort from there.”
![Mark Winterbottom - Ford Performance Racing [Pic credit: Ford/Edge Photographics]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/417040.jpg)
