Gulf Western Oil And Webb Get That Winning Feeling

image: John Morris - Mpix

Jonathon Webb took his # 26 Gulf Western Oil supported BF Ford Falcon to the round victory honours during the second round of the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series last weekend at Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria in what was the Queenslanders maiden round victory.

In what was a weekend of firsts, apart from the Webb’s maiden round victory in the Fujitsu Series, it was also the first round victory for Matthew White as the team owner of MW Motorsport and the first round success of a Gulf Western Oil backed driver since Dale Brede back in 2003.

For Webb this was his first Fujitsu Series round victory in his third season in the V8 Supercar category and he was simply over the moon to finally break through for that elusive round victory.

“I have won races and finished a number of rounds on the podium in either second or third over the past two years, but nothing comes close to actually winning a round as it is just a wonderful feeling,” commented a very pleased Webb. “Although we never recorded a race victory in any of the three races on the weekend we were consistent enough to come out on top in the overall round honours and that is the most important thing especially when we are chasing the series victory.”

The weekend for Webb started off in the best possible fashion when he recorded pole position for the opening race after he topped the time sheets in qualifying. In the opening race Webb didn’t make the best of starts and dropped a few positions on the opening lap and eventually greeted the chequered flag in fourth place. With the top 10 finishers in the opening race inverted for race two, Webb started from grid position seven and on this occasion he made a strong start. Buoyed by the great start, Webb was able to move into top three contention on the opening lap and ended up finishing in a strong third place.

At the completion of both race one and two, Webb’s results saw him start from pole position in the third and final. On the warm up lap for the final race he suffered a broken exhausts manifold and that robbed him of substantial horsepower. Despite the setback Webb was able to navigate his way around the tight Winton circuit with good enough speed to end up finishing in third and it was a good enough result for him to seal the round victory.

“We had a few dramas over the course of the weekend and the good thing was that it didn’t stop us from achieving results,” Webb said. “In the final race we were down a bit of horsepower and luckily with Winton being a tight circuit it didn’t hurt us too badly. I just had to make sure I was very strong and consistent around the tight sections of the circuit and be able to carry that momentum down the straights and it worked out all right for us in the end.”

Gulf Western Oil manager Ben Vicary was equally as thrilled as Webb and the MW Motorsport team about their breakthrough success.

“Jonathon [Webb] has made a great start to the year and it’s great to have our sponsored driver in victory lane so early in the year,” Vicary said. “At the beginning of the year when Matthew White came to us to see if we wanted to become involved with his team once again our main decision was made easier knowing that Jonathon was going to be his driver as we knew that he would be able to contend for the series victory and that is exactly what he is doing.”

Webb’s victory on the weekend has now elevated him from third up to second in the overall Fujitsu Series point standings behind current leader David Russell.

The third round of the Fujitsu Series is to be held on the weekend of July 10 – 12 as part of the inaugural Townsville 400 event up in far North Queensland.

For further information about Gulf Western Oil or MWR visit their official websites: www.gulfwestern.com.au and www.mwr.com.au
 

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