MOTORSPORT: Townsville heat on factory teams

As the V8 season reaches its midpoint, Ford Performance Racing and Holden Racing Team need podiums - and preferably the top step

FPR and HRT have some history on their side
The V8 Supercars are back in action this weekend, in Townsville as the championship reaches its halfway mark -- and the sport's two factory teams are desperate for wins. But there are some good omens for Ford Performance Racing and Holden Racing Team.

It's the third year V8 Supercars have visited Townsville to race on the Reid Park circuit. Three drivers have won races in the north Queensland city before -- Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup twice; James Courtney in 2009 when he was racing a Ford before joining HRT this year and most recently -- in last year's second race -- FPR's Mark Winterbottom.

While yet to notch a win this season, Winterbottom has led the second-most number of laps -- 80 to the dual champion, series leader and five-time 2011 race victor Jamie Whincup's 276 out of 724 in the 13 races so far.

Craig Lowndes, second in the championship, has led only 17 laps in two races, while 20 drivers have led at some stage this season.

Winterbottom on one hand was unlucky not to have had a win in the previous round at Darwin three weeks ago, yet on the other hand Team Vodafone boss Roland Dane branded him "an amateur".

Relations between FPR's long-time No. 1 driver and the Vodafone camp are not good, which could make for some fireworks in Townsville.

Winterbottom is aiming for his fourth straight pole position; something not achieved since Mark Skaife did it in 1998 for the HRT.

"Our car is now working really well over one lap as well as on long runs so I want to deliver the team its first race win of the year," Winterbottom said.

He needs to too, as he is only fifth among Ford drivers in the championship -- in ninth place, while Stone Brothers Racing's Shane van Gisbergen is third, Steven Johnson fifth, FPR's other driver Will Davison sixth -- gaining two spots in Darwin - and his brother Alex Davison, of SBR, seventh.

Van Gisbergen has been the only winner for the Blue Oval this year, so the factory team could do with Will Davison breaking through too.

Meanwhile, HRT is hoping to put the horror Darwin round behind it -- and history, at least, gives it some cause for hope.

Not only has Courtney won in Townsville before, albeit in a Ford, but Tander has been on the podium after all four races at Reid Park in the past two years.

In 2009 he finished third both days and last year was second and third -- and he has never qualified outside the top three in Townsville.

It was early in the season, but Tander and Courtney have each had a win this season, although they are now seventh and 16th respectively in the championship.

Despite the Darwin disaster there is an air of change at HRT and Courtney has said, pointedly perhaps, that "the shake-up with personnel (Craig Wilson and Rob Crawford gone and Mike Henry in, with the late Tom Walkinshaw's son Ryan starting to flex some ownership muscle) has been the right thing for the team".

"Darwin was one of those meetings we would all just like to forget, [but] it's important that we all learn from it," said Tander, who recently committed to HRT until the end of 2014. He also has become a father for the first time, with racer wife Leanne giving birth to a daughter, Scarlett.

"A lot of people have said that fatherhood slows you down, but having Scarlett on the scene is definitely not going to do that with me," Tander vowed.

For the first time in Townsville teams will be allowed to use a set of soft tyres in each of the weekend's 200km races, but will also have to run their cars on the harder compound Dunlops in each.

The first year the V8 Supercars raced at Reid Park a three-day attendance of 168,100 was announced, last year it was claimed to be more 152,000 while local reports this week have talked of the organisers anticipating "nearly 150,000".

Holden just four wins from manufacturer title
Some interesting manufacturer statistics around ahead of this Townsville round ...

Holden is in line to notch the earliest manufacturer's title in V8 Supercar history. After its 11 wins from the first 13 races, Commodore drivers only need to win four of the remaining 15 races to seal the trophy for the second year in a row for the General.

Holden won the crown four times between its inception in 1999 and 2002 and followed up with wins in 2004, 2007 and 2010. Greg Murphy will chalk up his 400th Australian Touring Car Championship/V8 Supercar race start in Saturday's race, while fellow Holden veteran Russell Ingall has admitted publicly that he needs "to start winning races if I'm going to have a hope of staying in this championship and going out in a bit of style".

V8 Supercar Championship after 13 of 28 races - 1. Jamie Whincup  (Team Vodafone) 1395 points, 2. Craig Lowndes (Team Vodafone) 1239, 3. Shane van Gisbergen (SP Tools Racing) 1134, 4. Rick Kelly (Jack Daniel's Racing) 1082, 5. Steven Johnson (Jim Beam Racing) 1030, 6. Will Davison (Trading Post FPR) 1020, 7. Garth Tander (Toll HRT) 1013, 8. Alex Davison (Irwin Racing) 963, 9. Mark Winterbottom (Orrcon Steel FPR) 961, 10. Jason Bright (Team BOC) 920.

V8 Supercar teams championship - 1. Team Vodafone 2659 points, 2. Stone Brothers Racing 2122, 3. Ford Performance Racing 2006, 4. Toll Holden Racing Team 1742, 5. Jim Beam Racing 1698, 6. Jack Daniel's Racing 1624, 7. Brad Jones Racing 1606, 8. Fujitsu Racing/GRM 1597, 9. Kelly Racing 1224, 10. Paul Morris Motorsports 1140.

Red Bull Racing chief on Daniel Ricciardo
Provided Perth's Daniel Ricciardo laps Silverstone circuit tomorrow (Saturday) night within 107 per cent of the fastest Formula One driver Australia should have multiple representation on the grid of a grand prix for the first time since 1977. That season Vern Schuppan and Larry Perkins were teammates in the outfit of John Surtees and Alan Jones was at Shadow, before going on to become world champion with Williams in 1980.

David and Geoff Brabham were both in F1 in 1990 but Geoff -- the eldest of triple world champion Sir Jack Brabham's three sons -- failed to qualify for any GPs.

Mark Webber, a veteran now of a decade in F1 and a six-time GP victor, won the British GP last year and should be at the pointy end of the field again this weekend.

We have posted a separate report today of Ricciardo talking in a Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) press conference at Silverstone about his elevation to F1, while Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner has been expansive on the young Australian during the week.

Ricciardo who has come through Red Bull's junior development squad but is making his F1 race debut on "loan" with Spanish-owned team Hispania Racing -- in which Madrid-based Thesan Capital this week bought Jose Ramon Carabante's shareholding.

So far this season Ricciardo has driven in Friday morning practice sessions for the Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso team and he remains the reserve driver for both world champion team Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso.

"He's a really talented youngster and he's earned this opportunity to make his F1 debut," Horner said. "I think he's a very gifted driver, certainly the work that he's done for us in the young driver tests and simulation has been very, very impressive... But it's a first step on the ladder for him. He's still very young. it's an opportunity that's been presented to him and its now up to him to grab it ... He's got a learning curve to go through but as we see with these young drivers, they develop very quickly.

"Look at (Force India's) Paul di Resta, look at Sebastian (Vettel, Red Bull's world champion). They tend to develop very quickly. And Daniel is a very talented driver, so it will be interesting to see how he progresses.

"Daniel has no experience of GP racing, he's got an awful lot to learn and HRT (Hispania Racing Team) and Toro Rosso are the best environment for him to do that as Sebastian did with Toro Rosso in 2007 and 2008.

"He needs time to develop, it would be wrong to rush him through. He's got to prove himself in F1 now. He's proved himself in the lower category and now he needs to grab this opportunity and make the most of it.

"I think he is very talented, but it's one thing doing it in testing and it's another thing doing it under pressure. We'll see. We'll be keeping a very close eye on him."



Image: markwinterbottom.com.au

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