Mark
August 28th 2007 00:46
Mark 'Frosty' Winterbottom
From a young age, twenty six year old Mark “Frosty” Winterbottom was a keen sports fan, starting off at six years of age playing soccer. A professional enough player to be included in a state level team, Blacktown United, eventually Mark’s other love called out to him and, at the age of eleven, he turned his back on playing professional soccer and turned his attentions to motor racing.
His love of motor racing had begun at a much earlier age though, when in 1989, at the tender age of eight, Winterbottom debuted in club level 50cc motorcycle racing. By the time he reached ten years of age, Mark had graduated to our wheels instead of two, racing a dirt Mini-Speedcar, winning the New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory State/ Territory Championships.
In 1991, Mark competed in his first kart race, after which he never looked back. Between 1991 and 2001 he won 25 State Kart Championships and 10 Australian Kart Championships, including six Clubman Light titles, three Junior National Lights titles and one Junior Clubman title. A very impressive haul.
He also took out the Knoxville State Championship Title race in America, after hearing about it while holidaying over there with his family in 1998, and was invited over to Japan in the following year to compete in the Suzuka Champions Kart race.
Not a bad start to his racing career.
In 2001, in addition to being Australian Formula A Kart Champion (Rotax 125cc Class), Mark made his debut in the Victorian Formula Ford series, finishing as runner-up after winning four races in the six rounds. He even missed one round due to previous karting commitments. The year finished on a high for Mark, being awarded the Ford Kart Stars Scholarship Championship, his prize being a Ford supported drive in the 2002 (National) Australian Formula Ford Championship.
In his rookie year in Formula Ford, Winterbottom ended the 2002 series in second place with two round victories, five race wins and two pole positions under his belt and was rewarded with the 2002 Avon Formula Ford Rookie of the Year Award.
A change in 2003 saw young Mark Winterbottom debut in the Konica V8 Supercar Series, racing with Stone Brothers Racing. This time, the rookie took out the championship with five round victories (two of which were gained from a rear of grid start in reverse grid races) and six pole positions. He only missed out on winning the remaining round of the series due to an engine failure at Phillip Island.
2003 also saw Mark’s V8 Supercar debut in the endurance races at Sandown and Bathurst, sharing a Stone Brothers Racing Falcon with Mark Noske. His year was rewarded with the presentation of the Mike Kable V8 Supercar Rookie of the Year Award.
Things just kept getting better and better for Winterbottom when he was offered a full-time drive with Team Larkham Motor Sport in the V8 Supercar series in 2004. This season saw him gain a fifth position at the Bathurst 1000 and sixth at the Sandown 500.
2006 brought a change of teams for Mark’s third season in the V8 Supercar championship when he joined Ford Performance Racing (FPR) as driver of their #5 Ford Credit Falcon, a position he holds to this day. His first ever endurance and round victory fell into his lap in the 2006 championship when he won the Sandown 500, driving alongside Jason Bright. He also scored a number of second placings in this season during the rounds at Phillip Island, New Zealand and Surfers Paradise, seeing him sitting in a very comfortable third overall on the points table in just his third full season in V8 Supercar racing.
2007 has proven to be another beneficial season so far for the young FPR driver with current standings on the drivers points table putting him comfortably within the top ten. At this rate, Mark “Frosty” Winterbottom will have many more fruitful years ahead of him.
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Comment by DuskDevi
Rucks and Rolls
Rugby World Cup 2007
I'm sorry Cara...I'm going to have to read this post some other time...for some reason I couldn't get beyond that bit...
Comment by Andrea
V8 Supercar Pitstop
Cara.xx