Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe
Breaking news

Winterbottom reveals cracked Supercars chassis woes

Mark Winterbottom says the post-season revelation of cracks in his chassis explained an inconsistent end to his 2020 Supercars campaign.

Car of Mark Winterbottom, Charlie Schwerkolt Racing

Car of Mark Winterbottom, Charlie Schwerkolt Racing

Edge Photographics

Driving for the Team 18 Holden squad, the 2015 series champion finished last season a respectable 10th in the points, his best race results a pair of fourths in Darwin.

However, he was pipped in an enthralling battle with new team-mate Scott Pye, who finished the season ninth, just 20 points ahead of Winterbottom.

While Pye was buoyed by impressive race pace, particularly in the second half of the season, Winterbottom's form trended the other way.

He struggled for single-digit results from Townsville onwards, eighth-placed finishes at The Bend and Bathurst the rare highlights.

Mark Winterbottom, Team 18 Holden

Mark Winterbottom, Team 18 Holden

Photo by: Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics

According to Winterbottom, the issue was set-up, his car not reacting in the same way as the others in the Triple Eight/Team 18 data share pool.

That tipped him off to a potential issue with the chassis - however, with the team stuck on the road due to the pandemic, it wasn't possible to properly investigate the issue.

It wasn't until post-season that the crew were able to return to base and strip down the car, which revealed cracks in the chassis.

"I got back after the time away and said 'strip my car, there's something wrong with it'," Winterbottom told the Below the Bonnet podcast.

"We were really competitive the first four rounds of last year, but then the set-ups and everything turned pear-shaped. We could never copy a Triple Eight car or [Pye's] car after that. So I knew something was wrong.

"It was more about pulling the car apart, finding problems, and when we found them, fixing them and moving on with it. There were a few little things there and a few little extras we could put on the car for this year to make it the same as [Pye's] car.

"It's just how it was last year; when you're on the road it's very hard to develop or repair of fix or improve cars.

"I knew, rolling out at the test day [in 2021], what we had would be much better."

The chassis fix and upgrades have helped Winterbottom to a promising start to the new season, with 11th his worst result from the five races so far.

Read Also:

That's given him a handy early break over team-mate Pye, who is just 14th in the standings, however Winterbottom swears he's not focused on on the intra-team battle.

"To be honest I don't focus on [Pye] at all," he added.

"I think you've got the focus on the bloke that's winning. We can look at [Shane] van Gisbergen's data, so at the moment if he can win, I'm trying to beat him. If we beat him we win the race.

"I don't get into the team/driver rivalry too much. I know if you've got the equipment, the results will take care of themselves.

"So it's not so much motivation, we're motivated anyway. If you're not motivated you'd give up. Scott did well last year, but by no means is he my motivating factor. I've got enough hunger myself."

 

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation

Related video

Previous article Engine tweak coming for Holden Supercars teams
Next article Supercars set to drop in-car roll bar adjustment in cost saving push

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe