Bathurst - Ford star Mark Winterbottom says he's desperate to end his Mt Panorama drought after securing pole position for tomorrow's Bathurst 1000 V8 Supercar endurance race.
For the second time in his career "Frosty" will start the Great Race at the iconic 6.2km circuit from pole after toppling the
TeamVodafone juggernaut in today's top 10 shootout.
Winterbottom clocked a two minute, 07.5377 second lap to finish ahead of Craig Lowndes (2:07.6201) and Jamie Whincup (2:07.7226) in the one-lap, best-lap shootout.
And after failing to make the podium in his previous seven starts at the Mountain, the Ford Performance Racing driver is keen to finally deliver.
"Absolutely. FPR, as a team, want to win up here," the 29-year-old said.
"'07 (the last time Winterbottom was on pole) was probably the best year we've had so far to have a crack at it and I let the team down that day. Last year we had a problem with the car.
"We really want to finish off some of the work that we've done up here.
"This place is obviously such a big race and you never take it for granted ... even a podium would be nice, I've never been on the podium.
"You want to get first obviously but it'd be nice to get a podium."
And while Lowndes, who broke Greg Murphy's seven-year old lap record on Friday, and Whincup are positioned right behind Winterbottom and co-driver Luke Youlden, the Ford ace believes he hasn't peaked yet.
"I've done better laps," he said.
"I think that car's a good race car, I wasn't sure about the qualifying pace.
"In the past when we've come here we've tried to put the car on pole which we have but then (on) Sundays we've failed in the race.
"This time we come here with a new focus and we're really focused on the race now ... I think tomorrow we'll be a bit better than what today was in car terms."
Winterbottom was also happy to bring some cheer to Ford fans nervous about a domination by Holden at this year's race, with the Red Lion making up two-thirds of the field.
"It was quite tough going out, three Fords in the top 10," he said.
"A lot of fans have been coming up, worried about the amount of Holdens in the top ten, so a bit of pressure on that lap and it's nice to be on pole to soothe the mind a bit tonight."
Holden rising star Lee Holdsworth will start the race in fourth position alongside Whincup, while the Holden Racing Team duo of Garth Tander and Will Davison make up the third row of the grid.
The day's big loser was 1998 Bathurst winner Jason Bright who qualified fastest for the shootout but had to settle for an eighth place start after clocking a 2:08.3979.
Championship leader James Courtney will line-up in seventh position beside Bright, while four-time winner Greg Murphy and Ford driver Paul Dumbrell round out the top 10.
The Bathurst 1000 gets underway at 10.30am (local time) tomorrow.
- AAP
Ford star Mark Winterbottom. Photo / Supplied
Bathurst - Ford star Mark Winterbottom says he's desperate to end his Mt Panorama drought after securing pole position for tomorrow's Bathurst 1000 V8 Supercar endurance race.
For the second time in his career "Frosty" will start the Great Race at the iconic 6.2km circuit from pole after toppling the
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