Mark Winterbottom’s place in Supercars has been confirmed into the Gen3 era with a multi-year contract extension at Team 18.
Doubts swirled mid-year over Winterbottom’s future, though Team Owner Charlie Schwerkolt revealed last month he expected the 41-year-old to remain at the Mount Waverley squad.
Team 18 has now officially announced its re-signing of the 2015 Supercars champion.
It will see Winterbottom drive a Chevrolet Camaro when Gen3 is introduced at the season-opening Newcastle event in March.
“The good thing with Charlie, we shook hands and that was quite early and then you just put pen to paper, it’s the formality of it,” said “Frosty”.
“I’m so invested in this team, it’s not an option to even look anywhere else.
“You do have options at times but Charlie is very open with me, I’m very open with him and it’s a pretty easy decision.
“It’s just the formality to put pen to paper that sometimes takes time to do but we’re on the same page.
“As I said, he’s a great guy to race for and it’s all about getting results: that’s why we race.”
Winterbottom first joined Team 18 in 2019, after 13 years at Tickford Racing which yielded a Bathurst 1000 win and a championship title.
Currently sitting 12th in the Drivers’ Championship, Winterbottom’s re-signing sees him and Scott Pye line up as team-mates for a fourth consecutive season.
The veteran is excited by the opportunity Gen3 provides.
“I think the future looks really bright for us,” added Winterbottom.
“The car next year and the program and how it’s going to happen should really suit Team 18, so yeah, I have signed there to try to win.
“It’s going to be a great couple of years and hopefully successful, that’s the plan.
“I’m really excited about Gen3 but at the same time I feel like I’m driving well, I feel like the team is going in the right direction.
“I race to win – I don’t race to just make up numbers and Charlie doesn’t either.
“Gen3 is a big opportunity for Team 18, it’s massive, but at the same time we have tried our backsides even this year to try to finish the year off strong with what we have got.”
The announcement came on Sunday morning at the ITM Auckland SuperSprint, where he finished 11th in Race 27 yesterday at Pukekohe Park Raceway.
“He’s been an integral part of Team 18 from those early days of when we really put together Team 18,” said Schwerkolt.
“He’s the real deal. The sponsors absolutely love him, the fans love him, he’s got more fans than anyone at the moment I think, but as a driver, he has still got it.
“It’s exciting. He just came off P5 at Sandown and here we are at New Zealand and I think he’ll go well.
“It was an easy decision to get it done. Timing, it was just, I’m a pretty busy guy, but getting it done, it was quite easy.
“He’s an easy guy to work with and we’re both on the same page so it was quick and easy and we move on and look forward to obviously going into Gen3.”
Qualifying for Race 28 and Qualifying for Race 29 take place from 10:45 local time/08:45 AEST.
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