Team 18 boss Charlie Schwerkolt has revealed Mark Winterbottom is expected to ink a new Supercars deal with the squad in the coming weeks.
Winterbottom is known to be off-contract at the end of this season, having signed a two-year deal in 2020.
The 41-year-old’s Repco Supercars Championship future has been in the spotlight in recent months, though he collected an equal season-best fifth in Race 26 at Sandown.
Asked by Speedcafe.com whether there had been any movement on Winterbottom’s future, Schwerkolt responded: “It’s very close to doing a deal.”
“We’ve just got to put pen to paper and work a few things out. It’s very close; we’ll be announcing something soon, when we can.
“Mark has been an integral part of our sport — he’s been great for my team and amazing for my sponsors. So, yeah, we’ve just got to put the deal together.”
Winterbottom expressed a desire to continue with Team 18 earlier this year, stating he is ‘not a team hopper’.
He joined the Victorian squad in 2019, after 13 years at Tickford Racing which yielded a Bathurst 1000 win and a championship title.
Team 18 expanded to two cars in 2020 with the arrival of Scott Pye, who will remain at Team 18 until at least the end of the 2023 season.
Next season is set to mark Winterbottom and Pye’s fourth-straight campaign as team-mates.
It coincides with the debut of Supercars’ Gen3 era, as a number of teams opt for stability in driving line-ups for the beginning of the category’s new formula.
Team 18 will run Chevrolet Camaros in 2023, with its status as a Triple Eight Race Engineering customer outfit continuing.
“I’m really excited about Gen3, I think it’s a fresh start; I think it evens the field up,” enthused Schwerkolt.
“It’s a Triple Eight car, but they haven’t had 10 years of engineering on it yet.
“They are the [General Motors] homologation team, they’ll know a lot about it, but we can catch up really quick.
“It’s exciting, [we have] level-headed drivers that have got a lot of experience, good engineers, and we’ll be a solid team next year for sure.”
Winterbottom sits 12th in the championship standings, while Pye is 17th.
Supercars heads to New Zealand for its next round at Pukekohe Park Raceway from September 9-11.
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