Mark Winterbottom

By the midpoint of the season, Winterbottom had climbed from 22nd to third in the championship standings and added two further podium finishes with a third at Symmons Plains Raceway and second at Phillip Island.

Phillip Island also saw Winterbottom achieve his first V8 Supercars sprint race victory.

With nine top ten finishes for the season, Winterbottom had secured third place in the Drivers' Championship in just his third season of main V8 Supercar Series competition.

Winterbottom achieved 5th in the championship, with the highlight being winning his first solo V8 Supercars round at the Desert 400 in Bahrain, preserving FPR's undefeated record at the international round.

Winterbottom also gained four pole positions, including his first at Pukekohe Park, which was followed by poles at the Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and at the Desert 400.

Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom (born 20 May 1981) is an Australian professional racing driver.

He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving the No. 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Team 18.

In 1998, Winterbottom visited America on a family holiday and heard about a major karting event taking place close by – so a last-minute decision was made to rent a kart locally and compete.

Winterbottom then won the Knoxville State Championship title race.

In 1999 he competed in Japan at the Suzuka Champions Kart race on invitation.

In 2001 Winterbottom was crowned as Australian Formula A Kart Champion.

In 2001, Winterbottom made his Formula Ford debut in the Victorian Formula Ford Championship.

Winterbottom raced to runner-up honours after winning four races out of six rounds, missing one round due to karting commitments.

He won the Ford Kart Stars Scholarship Championship, gaining a Ford-supported drive in the 2002 Australian Formula Ford Championship.

He finished second in the 2002 Australian Formula Ford Championship with two round victories, five race wins and two pole positions.

The championship was won by Winterbottom's future V8 Supercars rival Jamie Whincup.

He was presented with 2002 Avon Formula Ford Rookie of the Year Award.

In 2003, Winterbottom became the Konica V8 Supercar Series champion in his debut season.

Winterbottom raced with Ford team Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) to five round victories and six pole positions in an almost perfect season.

Two of Winterbottom's race victories were gained from rear-of-field reverse grid starts.

He missed out on making a clean sweep of the series due to an engine failure in the fifth round at Phillip Island.

He also debuted in the V8 Supercars Championship at the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 with SBR, sharing a BA Falcon with Mark Noske.

Winterbottom and Noske finished 11th at Sandown, before qualifying 16th at the 2003 Bathurst 1000 and then retiring at three-quarter distance whilst running in third with engine problems.

He was the recipient of the Mike Kable Young Gun Award.

Winterbottom joined Ford V8 Supercar team Larkham Motor Sport (LMS) and competed in the 2004 and 2005 V8 Supercar championships.

Highlights of his debut season included a fifth-place finish at Bathurst and sixth-place result at Sandown in 2004.

Winterbottom's best qualifying result was fifth at the Darwin round in 2005.

The lowlight was at the V8 Supercars China Round in which Winterbottom avoided injury after a loose drain cover penetrated the chassis floor and damaged the driver's seat.

Winterbottom joined Ford Performance Racing (FPR) as driver of the number 5 Ford Credit Falcon for the 2006 and 2007 V8 Supercar championship seasons.

This appointment continued Winterbottom's career-long involvement with Ford Australia from the karting ranks all the way to a lead role with Ford's major V8 Supercars team.

He claimed his first V8 Supercars round victory co-driving with Jason Bright at the 2006 Betta Electrical 500 and gained second place overall round finishes at Pukekohe and Surfers Paradise.

He also voices himself in the Australian version of the hit 2011 film, Cars 2.

Winterbottom made his motorsport debut racing motorbikes, racing in club level 50 cc events, progressing to the 80 cc class and competing in fields that included riders Anthony Gobert and Chad Reed.

Winterbottom raced whenever he could between his soccer commitments.

Raced a dirt Mini-Speedcar and won the NSW and ACT State Championships.

Winterbottom competed in his first kart race in the Cadet class at Wollongong (NSW) and would continue racing karts successfully to the age of 21.

Winterbottom won ten Australian Kart Championships and 25 state Kart Championships during his rise through Australia's karting ranks.

Winterbottom's national titles were six Clubman Light titles, three Junior National Lights titles and one Junior Clubman title.

His career highlights include winning the 2013 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 (with Steven Richards), twice winning the Sandown 500 (2006 and 2015) and receiving the Mike Kable Young Gun Award in 2003.

Winterbottom has also won his maiden championship title in the 2015 International V8 Supercars Championship, making it the first title for Ford in five years.