| Mark Winterbottom | |
|---|---|
| Mark Winterbottom after winning the V8 Supercar race at Bahrain in 2007 | |
| V8 Supercar Record | |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Car # | 5 |
| Current team | Ford Performance Racing |
| Series Championships | |
| Races | 111 |
| Round Wins | 9 |
| Podium finishes | 30 |
| Race Wins | 18 |
| Pole positions | 10 |
| 2011 Championship position | 3rd (2710 pts) |
Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom, (born 20 May 1981 in Sydney, Australia) is a racing driver who has competed in the V8 Supercar category since 2003. He currently drives for the Ford Performance Racing team. Mark is the son of the 1969 and 1974 Australian Sprintcar Champion and former chairman of the Sprintcar Control Council of Australia, Jim Winterbottom.
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He started his motor racing career in 1989 at the age of 8, racing 50cc and 80cc motorbikes, and then moved on to go-karts at the age of 10. He would remain in karts until his early twenties, winning an astonishing 10 Australian Kart Championships and 25 State Karts Championships.
He moved up to the Australian Formula Ford Championship, for the 2002 season, and finished as the runner-up to fellow V8 Supercar racer Jamie Whincup, with five wins and two pole positions. He was given the Rookie of the Year title.
In 2003, Winterbottom moved up to the Konica V8 Supercar series and made an amazing impression with the Stone Brothers Racing team by winning the championship with five round victories and six pole positions. He also made his debut in the V8 Supercar series in the two endurance races at the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 sharing on both occasions with Mark Noske. He impressed at Bathurst, running third until he retired at around three-quarter distance.
2004 saw him move full-time into the V8 Supercar series with Larkham Motorsport but did not do him good, with only one top-five in two seasons. That again came at the Bathurst 1000 in 2004.
For 2006, Winterbottom moved to Ford Performance Racing as the driver of car #5 replacing Greg Ritter. Winterbottom started the season pretty badly with a 22nd and a 19th at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide. But has improved with his first podium at the New Zealand round at Pukekohe and his first round win with team – mate Jason Bright at the Sandown 500 in Bright's usual car.
He finished the 2006 season with a win and second on the podium in the final round at Phillip Island. He finished third in points.
In 2007 he remained with Ford Performance Racing. At the third round of the year at Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand, he achieved his career first pole by edging out Holden's Garth Tander. He finished the first of three races for that round in second place but an involvement in a race 2 accident ruined his weekend. He came fifth in the 2007 season with a win at Bahrain.
He lives with his wife Renee, in Melbourne, Australia.
Took up the sport of soccer from the age of six and by eleven Mark was competing with a state level team, (Blacktown United) in matches across New South Wales. He made the decision to give up soccer to pursue his motor racing ambitions at the age of eleven.
Made his motorsport debut racing motorbikes, racing in club level 50cc events, progressing to the 80cc class and competing in fields that included riders Anthony Gobert and Chad Reed. Mark raced whenever he could between his soccer commitments.
Raced a dirt Mini-Speedcar and won the NSW and ACT State Championships. Competed in his first kart race in the Cadet class at Wollongong (NSW) and would continue racing Karts successfully to the age of 21.
Won ten Australian Kart Championships and 25 State Kart Championships in an outstanding rise through Australias Club karting levels. Marks national titles included six Clubman Light titles, three Junior National Lights titles and one Junior Clubman title.
Visited America on a family holiday and heard about a major Karting event taking place close by – so a last minute decision was made to rent a kart locally and compete. Mark then won the Knoxville State Championship Title race.
Competed in Japan at the Suzuka Champions Kart race on invitation.
A busy year which saw Mark crowned as Australian Formula A Kart Champion (Rotax 125cc Class) and he also made his Formula Ford debut in the Victorian Formula Ford Championship.
Mark raced to runner-up honours after winning four races out of six rounds – missing one Victorian Formula Ford Championship round due to his Karting commitments. Winner of the Ford Kart Stars Scholarship Championship, gaining a Ford supported drive in the 2002 (National) Australian Formula Ford Championship.
Finished second in the Australian Formula Ford Championship with two round victories, five race wins and two pole positions.
Presented with 2002 Avon Formula Ford Rookie of the Year Award.
Konica V8 Supercar Series Champion in debut season. Mark raced with Ford team Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) to five round victories and six pole positions in an almost perfect result. Two of Marks race victories were gained from rear of field reverse grid starts. (Missed out on making a clean sweep of the series due to an engine failure in the 5th round at Phillip Island) Debuted at the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 with SBR, sharing a BA Falcon with Mark Noske. Winterbottom qualified 16th at Bathurst and retired at three-quarter distance while running third. At Sandown he qualified 14th and finished 11th.
Mike Kable V8 Supercar Rookie of the Year Award recipient.
Joined Ford V8 Supercar Team Larkham Motor Sport (LMS) and competed in the 2004 and 2005 V8 Supercar Championships. Highlights of debut season included a 5th place finish at Bathurst and 6th place result at Sandown in 2004. Marks best qualifying result was 5th at Darwin in 2005.
Joined Ford Performance Racing (FPR) as driver of the number 5 Ford Credit FPR Falcon for the 2006 and 2007 V8 Supercar Championship seasons. This appointment continued Marks career-long involvement with Ford Australia from the karting ranks all the way to a lead role with Fords major V8 Supercar team. Claimed his first V8 Supercar Round victory with Jason Bright at the Sandown 500 (R8) and gained 2nd place overall finishes at R2 (NZ) and R10 (Surfers Paradise). By the mid point of the season, Winterbottom had climbed from 22nd to 3rd in the Championship standings and with two further podium finishes with a third at R11 (Symmons Plains) and second at R13 (Phillip Island), this round also including his first V8 Supercar sprint race victory. With nine top ten finishes for the season, Winterbottom had secured third place in the Drivers Championship in his third season of main V8 Supercar Series competition.
Raced to 5th in the Championship, winning his first solo V8 Supercar round at the Desert 400 in Bahrain, preserving FPRs undefeated record at this prestigious international round. Winterbottom gained four Pole positions at Pukekohe Park (NZ), the Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and at the Desert 400 (Bahrain) to claim the 2007 V8 Supercar Pole Award, with three further top five overall round results in Perth, Queensland & Tasmania. FPR secures Winterbottom as the driver of the number 5 FPR Falcon for a further three years.
Second place podium finishes at Clipsal and Eastern Creek.
A dominant round victory at the BigPond 400 at Wanneroo's Barbagallo Raceway in Perth, Western Australia. Winterbottom achieved pole position and wins in race 1, race 2 and race 3. Mark also won the City of Ipswich 400 at Queensland Raceway. With further good results at Surfers Paradise and Symmons Plains, he placed 2nd in the championship, which is FPR's best result to date.
Mark Winterbottom won a race at the Australian Grand Prix non-championship round. He also put the #5 Falcon on pole position for Race 3 of the championship at the Hamilton 400 in New Zealand, as well as a pole for race 5 at Winton Raceway but had troublesome races at both rounds which resulted in little or no points for the races. In race 6 at Winton, Mark recovered from race 5 to finish in second position.
| Preceded by Paul Dumbrell |
Winner of the V8Supercar Development Series 2003 |
Succeeded by Andrew Jones |
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