Ford Performance Racing duo Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom head to this weekend’s Phillip Island V8 Supercars event as the bookies’ firm favourites.
Together, the factory Ford pair has won seven of the nine races held so far this season, including a clean sweep of both the past two events at Hamilton and Barbagallo.
The duo’s favourite’s status comes despite the team’s lack of wins at the famous Island circuit. FPR has tasted victory just twice at Phillip Island, dating back to Craig Lowndes’ win in the wet in 2003, plus Winterbottom’s victory in the final race of the 2006 season – a race best remembered for the controversial championship decider between Lowndes and Rick Kelly.
Davison and Winterbottom’s favouritism also fly in the face of championship leader Jamie Whincup. The TeamVodafone driver has won two races this year, and thanks to his eight podium finishes, sits 29 points clear of Davison in the title standings.
Whincup, Davison, Winterbottom and Craig Lowndes have attracted the shortest odds for Race 10 (Saturday). Lowndes has won the past two events at the circuit, alongside Mark Skaife in Phillip Island’s past two-driver, 500km format.
Sportingbet.com.au’s Bill Richmond says that the current form of FPR and TeamVodafone is too hard for the bookmakers to overlook.
“It’s really the top four that are in the betting at the moment, and then there’s a massive gap to the next guys,” Richmond told Speedcafe.com.
“The results in the first few events of this year really shows the gulf between FPR, Triple Eight and the rest of the field.
“We’ve seen some nibbles on Garth Tander at $26, but all the money at the moment is very much around those top four, and that’s no surprise, given the recent results.
“The punters are certainly expecting those four to fight the weekend out again.”
V8 Supercars track action at Phillip Island kicks off this Friday.
Stay tuned for Speedcafe.com’s V8 Race Guide, previewing this weekend’s Phillip Island 300.
See below for Sportingbet.com.au odds for Race 10 of the V8 Supercars Championship at Phillip Island.
| Driver | Win |
| Will Davison | 3.00 |
| Mark Winterbottom | 3.25 |
| Jamie Whincup | 4.50 |
| Craig Lowndes | 5.50 |
| Garth Tander | 26.00 |
| Shane van Gisbergen | 26.00 |
| Lee Holdsworth | 34.00 |
| David Reynolds | 41.00 |
| Jason Bright | 51.00 |
| Fabian Coulthard | 67.00 |
| Rick Kelly | 67.00 |
| Tim Slade | 67.00 |
| James Courtney | 67.00 |
| Jonathon Webb | 151.00 |
| Michael Caruso | 151.00 |
| Michael Patrizi | 151.00 |
| Todd Kelly | 251.00 |
| Greg Murphy | 301.00 |
| Russell Ingall | 301.00 |
| Steven Johnson | 301.00 |
| Steve Owen | 301.00 |
| Tony D’Alberto | 301.00 |
| Alexandre Premat | 501.00 |
| Dean Fiore | 501.00 |
| James Moffat | 501.00 |
| David Wall | 1001.00 |
| Karl Reindler | 1001.00 |
| Taz Douglas | 1001.00 |
