Winterbottom torn on Supercars reserve driver debate

Supercars champion Mark Winterbottom is torn over the reserve driver debate, after two stars were ruled out of the Darwin finale.

Brodie Kostecki and Thomas Randle were both unable to race in the betr Darwin Triple Crown finale, with Todd Hazelwood and Winterbottom stepping in.

There are no formally recognised reserve driver rules in Supercars, with co-drivers typically called upon should a full-timer be unable to compete.

On this occasion, Dick Johnson Racing and Tickford Racing were able to call on Hazelwood and Winterbottom, who were trackside completing other commitments.

The situation reared its head at the 2024 Adelaide 500, when Penrite Racing was forced into a bizarre driver shuffle with Dale Wood and Kai Allen when Richie Stanaway was deemed unfit to race after a crash.

It’s in the best commercial interests for teams to put a car on track, while the introduction of Live Pit Lane rules has made the teams’ championship more important than ever. For context, the points scored by Winterbottom on Sunday allowed Tickford to jumped Walkinshaw TWG Racing in the teams’ standings.

Introducing reserve driver rules could offer a more streamlined process for teams and officials to avoid scrambles seen in Adelaide for Penrite Racing, but Winterbottom himself isn’t as convinced.

“I’m still getting my head around this,” Winterbottom said Supercars' The Run Home podcast.

“I raced for 21 years — I could not picture myself missing a race.“A reserve driver in my era was never on the radar. But to see two drivers miss on the weekend, it’s kind of changed a little bit, the way the sport is.

“It’s very rare to see a driver miss a race. I don’t know if we need that in the sport yet. To see two on a weekend, maybe it’s indicating that’s the way the sport is going.”

Winterbottom admitted times have changed, citing a tough experience of his own. At the 2009 Gold Coast event, Winterbottom battled glandular fever to win twice.

"There was a time I raced with glandular fever, I was in hospital in the morning getting injections,” he added.

"I qualified on pole, won the race, went back to the hotel, got an injection again, come back and raced, went back to the hotel, got an injection again and raced."

Randle was sidelined over the effects of a cool suit failure, prompting more debate over driver welfare. One such suggestion was air conditioning, something Winterbottom was also against following another bad experience.

Winterbottom’s BMW at the 2017 Bathurst 12 Hour suffered a air con failure, leading to skyrocketing temperatures in the cabin and the driver’s helmet.

“I would choose a cool suit any day of the week over an air conditioning system, because my one experience with it was a disaster,” Winterbottom said.

“When your air con doesn’t work, it’s a big failure… the cool boxes are by far the best unit we can run."