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Winning on tyre life at Barbagallo has given Mark Winterbottom confidence that he has the tools to fight for a second V8 Supercars title this season.
The 34-year-old broke a 20 race winless streak on Sunday by coercing a single set of tyres through a marathon 30 lap final stint.
This season had seen the Prodrive team score five pole positions before finally breaking through for a win.
“It’s been tough,” said Winterbottom, who climbed from sixth to fourth in the standings with the Race 9 result.
“Everyone has stepped up this year and strategies and race formats and tyres have really thrown a spanner in the works as well.
“Last year our strengths were probably qualifying and tyre life on the hard tyre.
“This year our qualifying speed has been good and our tyre life has been the issue.
“That’s the thing I’m most excited about, to go 30 laps and the tyres stay on the car and not burn up.
“That gives me confidence now going to other tracks knowing we can back ourselves and get the tyre life.
“This (Barbagallo) kick-started our season last year and hopefully it can activate it again and get it going.”
After a disastrous run on Saturday, Winterbottom says he rates yesterday’s drive as one of his best ever wins.
Winterbottom was just 22nd in Race 8 after locking a wheel and spearing off the road at Turn 7 during the early going.
The drama required an unscheduled pitstop to clean the radiator and replace a flat-spotted tyre, which left The Bottle-O Ford with one less complete set to play with on Sunday.
“It’s definitely up there,” he said of the win.
“You hate making mistakes. I get really dirty on myself for making mistakes. I went home and was pretty disappointed.
“It wasn’t massive, I hit a puddle, but the consequences were huge and it flowed onto Sunday with the tyres. It was sort of a double mistake.
“When you have to drive to numbers (in Race 9) you have to use the mind a lot.
“It’s hard to get the most out of the tyre for the whole stint and not get drawn into battles.
“It’s definitely up there for wins just because of how strategically you have to drive the car.
“It was awesome just to get a win after seven months. That also makes it special as well.”
