A Sandown Showdown for Young and Old
15/09/2017
Prodrive Racing has the classic mix of youth and experience for this year’s Supercars Enduro Cup, where its four-car challenge commences this weekend at the Sandown 500. The team have won the race twice before and all three winning drivers are part of the team’s line-up this year.
Two-time winner Mark Winterbottom won his first ever Supercars race alongside Jason Bright in the 2006 edition of the race.
Chaz Mostert who was runner-up in the team’s 1-2 finish two years ago teams up with Steve Owen .
Cameron Waters who partners with rising Kiwi star Richie Stanaway, while Dean Canto returns alongside Winterbottom for his 10th endurance campaign with the team in what will be his 11th Sandown 500.
Persistent rain forced the team to cancel three attempts to test before Sandown but a combined total of 1532 race starts for its drivers, coupled with some rapid rookies in its line-up have the team confident of a strong Enduro Cup campaign.
Drivers' View
Mark Winterbottom - #5 The Bottle-O PRA Ford
"I am excited to get to Sandown this weekend. Of course, it’s great to have Deano back as well. Last year was tough for us there, so we’re looking to put that behind us, and having won there two years ago, I’m just as hungry to get back to the top step of the podium. The boys have worked incredibly hard to get us set for this race, and given our pace at Sydney we’re determined to be up front all weekend.”
Cameron Waters - #6 Monster Energy PRA Ford
"I’m really pumped to be going to Sandown, and it’s awesome to have Richie with me. It was actually really good for him to do the Eastern Creek race meeting in Super2, seeing as though our tests got cancelled the past couple weeks. He’s got a fair few miles under his belt now, which is really good, and I think we’re a really good shot coming into Sandown.”
Chaz Mostert - #55 Supercheap Auto PRA Ford
"For me, it’s just continuing the partnership Steve and I had from last year. Steve drove really great last year so it’s exciting to have him back in the car this year. We’ve teamed back up with (my engineer) Adam DeBorre – we didn’t work with him last year, but he’s bringing a whole new philosophy to the car this year, and we’ve got this slick looking retro car to boot. Hopefully Steve really likes the car this year. We had a lot of work to do from last year, so fingers crossed we can be a factor in the race this year.”
Tim Edwards
Team Principal
"We are not ones for sporting clichés but we have assembled our strongest ever four-car line-up for the endurance races and we’ve got six really experienced guys who are joined by a couple of rapid young drivers so we really do have a great chance at success. Our season was inconsistent early but we’ve stabilised and heading into the pointy end of the year we are far more comfortable with our technical package and what we’ve got in the pipeline. Of course we need to be fast, but the Enduro Cup is about racing smart, strategising well and using your experience as a group so we are confident we’ll be challenging in the weeks and months ahead.”
EVENT NAME: Wilson Security Sandown 500
DATE: 15-17 September
LOCATION: Melbourne Victoria
EVENT NUMBER: 11 of 14
FORMAT: Friday – 3 x 30-min practice (2 x co-driver only);
Saturday – 1 x 15-min prac, 1 x 20-min qualifying,
2 x 20-lap qualifying races;
Sunday – 1 x 20-min warm-up, 1 x 161-lap race
CIRCUIT: Sandown Raceway
LENGTH: 3.10-kilometres
DESCRIPTION: Sandown is a fast and flowing circuit with long front and back straights peppered with tight right-angled corners. Particularly challenging is the tricky high-speed, downhill section marking the end of the back straight. The track can be treacherous in the wet and very exciting in the dry. Sandown is arguably the most historic circuit on the calendar and has a rich and storied past formed over decades of touring car and single-seater racing.
TRACK RECORD: 1m09.71s – Nick Percat, 2016 (race)
PRA BEST RESULT: 1st –Mark Winterbottom & Jason Bright (2006), Mark Winterbottom & Steve Owen (2015)
