The Mark Winterbottom DeWalt Camaro will sport a new number when he brings up a milestone at this week’s Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint.
With Winterbottom set to make his 600th Repco Supercars Championship race start in the opening race at Wanneroo Raceway, the Team 18 entry which normally does indeed bear #18 will instead run as #600.
The car will also carry a sticker on its rear quarter panels to mark the occasion for ‘Frosty’, who becomes the third driver to bring up the milestone, after Craig Lowndes (675) and Garth Tander (642).
Through his first 599 race starts, dating back to the 2003 Sandown 500, has won the Bathurst 1000 in 2013 and the championship in 2015.
“I go to Perth trying to get a result. That’s what I go there for,” said the 41-year-old Western Sydney native.
“But, I think we’ve got a good opportunity. We’re going okay at the moment and I think as the year goes on, we’re going to get better and better.
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“I’m also aware that, 600 race starts is something I’m pretty proud of. To be in the game for such a long time and have people believe in you, sponsors, team owners, and the crew around you and all that sort of side is a pretty special moment.
“I’ll be very grateful when that 600th race starts, but I’ll enjoy it even more if we get a good result.
“I think the Grand Prix, result-wise, was a bad weekend. But I look at the positives and I think, we’re very fast, we topped practice, we’re very fast in qualifying. We were a bit unlucky with weather, but we were top five pace in qualifying and most sessions we went out.
“We got beaten up a bit, but the goal is to go to Perth, use what we’ve done well, fix what we didn’t do well, and work for a result.”
The sole, 90-minute practice session for Event 3 of the Supercars Championship takes place on Friday from 14:25 local time/16:25 AEST.
CLICK HERE for event schedule
READ MORE: Winterbottom ‘in sync’ after feeling ‘disconnected’ from Gen2
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