Mark Winterbottom of Prodrive Racing Australia during the Bathurst 1000. Photo / Supplied
The 2016 Bathurst 1000 turned out to be a disaster for Prodrive Racing as their two leading cars were bitten by the Mountain.
Reigning series champ Mark Winterbottom made contact with a wall at the top of the Mountain late in the race and saw his right front steering collapse
at the end of Conrod Straight sending the Bottle-O Ford off into the sand trap.
The incident sparked a safety car and he had to be towed from the spot ending any chance to score a decent haul of points.
"Just not our day today," a frustrated Winterbottom said after the race. "We had a lot of issues going on with the engine playing up, the drink bottle playing up, but we were still second on the road at one point. You've just got to stay out of trouble.
"Unfortunately at the (Forrest) Elbow something went a bit funny in the steering and pushed me into the exit wall and that was obviously the rotor that exploded at sixth gear.
"We were still in a good position even with a car that wasn't handling the best with all its gremlins we still found ourselves up the front."
