Ford Performance Racing

Date of birth:

20 May, 1981

Birthplace:

Sydney, NSW

Lives:

Melbourne, VIC

Status:

Married. Wife – Renee, Son – Oliver

Height:

181cm

Weight:

73kg

Nickname:

Frosty

Interests:

Running, watersports, video games

Car number:

5

BIO

Mark Winterbottom is entering his seventh season as a factory Ford driver and has become the model of consistency since first sampling a V8 Supercar at just 21-years old in an era when young drivers were not a regular feature in the category.

 

Mark, popularly known as ‘Frosty’, did come through the ranks of karting, though unlike many of his peers he got his start on two wheels, not four.

 

After a stint as a promising soccer player in his hometown of Sydney, Frosty started racing 80cc motorcycles after winning a motorbike in a local shopping centre competition.

 

A move to karts followed and Mark quickly established himself as one of the country’s leading stars.

 

Ten national and 25 state titles, plus an invitation to race in the 1999 All-Champions event in Japan against the likes of Lewis Hamilton, had him set on a path which by 2001 attracted the attention of Ford Australia.

 

Little did he know but the company’s support would set in place a career-defining series of events.

 

Ford backed him to enter the Victorian Formula Ford Championship in 2001 where he amazingly finished runner-up in his debut car racing season.

 

His success earned him the Ford Kart Stars Scholarship and importantly the accompanying Ford sponsorship for the 2002 Australian Formula Ford Championship where again claimed the runner-up spot along with Rookie of the Year honours.

 

This success, coupled with a test in a Stone Brothers Racing V8 Supercar, earned him a full-time drive in the 2003 V8 Supercars Development Series where he nearly swept all before him to win the title in his first season.

 

The next two seasons were spent learning the nuances of racing in Australia’s top category with the respected Larkham Motor Sport team before he joined FPR in 2006.

 

Mark finished a stunning third overall in his maiden V8 Supercars season and has finished now lower than fifth outright in the years since.

 

Incredibly Mark has been backed by long-time sponsor Orrcon Steel since 2004 which will again be supporting ‘Frosty’ and FPR in the 2012 season.

V8 SUPERCARS CAREER STATS (as of February 2012)

RACE STARTS: 246

RACE WINS: 17

POLES: 21

PODIUMS: 47