IN THE SHADOW OF MOUNT PANORAMA

Thursday, September 25, 2008 Twelve months ago the greatest prize in Australian motorsport slipped from the seemingly certain grasp of Ford Performance Racing, but the torment only served to heighten the team's drive for 2008.

The Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 is the race every driver wants to win. FPR's Steve Richards has two under his belt and was looking good for a third last year after he and team-mate Mark Winterbottom led the race from pole position.

That was until a rain shower 14 laps from the end.

"It's heartbreaking," said Frosty, who was caught off-guard by the rain and skidded off-track and out of the lead. "Especially when it's dry all day and then it rains. The fact that we were going to win the race is the worst part of it. I felt terrible. You go back to the pits and see all the people who've worked hard. That was the hardest part. Seeing Richo, seeing the engineers, seeing all the mechanics and apologizing for costing them the race. After I said it I went and stood in the motor home for 20 minutes just to get away."

This year is going to be different though, according to Richo. "Sometimes you can over-analyse things," he said. "We've spoken about that moment so much over the last six months that at some point you've got to let it go.

"The team did everything right last year even though the end result doesn't reflect that. We dominated the round and we're in better form this year. Realistically there are only three teams in the running and we're one of them. We're going to give it everything we've got."

The Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 runs from October 8 - 12.