V8 Supercar driver Mark Winterbottom, pilot of the #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon, was in the Nikon SuperGP pit lane to reflect upon his weekend’s success on the Surfers Paradise streets.

Winterbottom, who claimed two prized Nikon SuperGP surfboards across the weekend despite battling a glandular illness for the past week, said the win was just the injection he needed.

“I’ve been having injections all week due to my illness but yesterday’s win was certainly the injection that I enjoyed the most,” said Winterbottom.

“The Gold Coast track is a real driver’s track, it rewards bravery and disciplines stupidity.

“I think this year’s crowd of 205,000 was very thick with motorsport enthusiasts, where in the past there was a large proportion of people who were simply here to party and not that interested in the racing.

“If we can continue to build on this crowd and maybe one day end up with a crowd of 300 or 400 thousand over the event it would be great.

“With so many genuinely interested in the racing, and not just our racing but also that of the Australian Legends and their iconic cars, the atmosphere was just fantastic.

“If you ask any driver in the field I’m sure they’ll all agree that this track rates very highly on there list of favourites – it is one of the tracks we all enjoy.

“This year’s format I believe worked well, but it is up to the powers to be to decide what format next year’s event will take. From a personal point of view I really didn’t pay too much attention to the Indy Cars when they were here because we were always so busy doing our own stuff, with the extra time this year we had more track time and anytime you can have more racing it is great.