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Mark Winterbottom has licked his wounds and moved on from a bruising Auckland 500 that saw his V8 Supercars championship lead take another beating.
Determined driving from the career Ford man reduced what could have been a disaster to a mere hiccup on Sunday at Pukekohe.
Winterbottom, 34, was turned around in an incident started by James Courtney that left him last in the field and staring at big loss in his championship lead.
But the steered his Falcon back for 11th place, ensuring his points hit was minimised.
Winterbottom gave a small jab to Courtney for his role – saying “he can’t do those sort of things” – but quickly turned his attention to the the main game; winning his first title.
“We had a bad weekend and I think we lost 18 points,” he said.
“If we do that two more times we’re laughing.”
After the New Zealand race David Reynolds is Winterbottom’s closest challenger, 239 points adrift while Craig Lowndes is a further point behind.
With six races across two meetings at Phillip Island to go, the maths for Winterbottom are simple: if he can finish sixth or better in every race, he’ll be crowned champion no matter what.
Winterbottom has distilled it even further.
“I just need to be quick,” he said.
“Six more races to go, 600 points, If I get 400 we’re laughing so that’s the plan.”
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