Inside Winterbottom's rushed Darwin cameo

Mentoring Tickford's rising Super2 stars whilst balancing TV commitments, Mark Winterbottom was a busy man at the best of times in Darwin.

Little did he know he was about to get a whole lot busier.

In an unprecedented turn of events, Thomas Randle became the second driver to withdraw from Race 19 on medical grounds, following Brodie Kostecki swapping out for Todd Hazelwood.

Whilst Tickford had their four-strong Super2 squad on hand, including Randle's co-driver Reuben Goodall and round winner Campbell Logan, Tickford elected to put the experienced Winterbottom in the #55.

That meant a hurried switch from TV personality to racing driver for the 2015 champion, who broke the news midway through Sunday's Super2 race before darting into the Tickford transporter.

So with zero time in the car, zero testing miles, and having not contested a solo race since 2024, how did Winterbottom think he went?

"Well I finished last, so not that good," he laughed.

Winterbottom had actually finished 22nd, ahead of Jackson Walls and the retired Chaz Mostert, but it could've been more despite the pit lane start he had to take having not qualified the car.

The 2013 Bathurst winner had actually worked his way to the back of the pack, and ran a long first stint to jump up into the top 10 on road, however a hiccup at the first pit stop saw Winterbottom fall off the lead lap.

Then there was the matter of the rushed driver ergonomics for Winterbottom, who admitted the hurriedly engineered booster seat failed almost immediately.

"The stalling in the pits wasn't ideal, but my race pace was decent. It's that basic stuff like stalling in the pits and then not being able to start it, I think I lost something like 32 seconds they told me," Winterbottom said.

"But the biggest drama was jumping in, and I put my foot on the brake pedal for the first time and the cushion insert I had slid down, and then I couldn't really see over the wheel for the next 70 laps.

"But we survived, which is good."

All told, the laps will be invaluable for Winterbottom, who will line up alongside Cam Waters in the Ryco Enduro Cup, having impressed in his first season together with his former mentee.

He also believes the rushed lead-in, which goes in stark contrast to the fierce preparations he became renowned for throughout his illustrious career, will have also helped for his bigger mission come September.

"It's really foreign, when I got the call up the car was literally on the [set-up] patch, so they string line around it, and I couldn't even open the door to jump in," Winterbottom said.

"It was a last minute hurrah, we were talking on the grid in Super2, so I literally ran back.

"I had to go to the scales, get weighed, had to go do a driver's briefing because I hadn't done one, put my race suit on, and then jump in my race car with about six cushions.

"But when you play Tetris with them, I didn't do my Tetris properly...

"I definitely could do a lot better job with a bit more prep, but how fun? One o'clock I'm talking to you, two o'clock I'm in the race seat, so that was really cool."