Winterbottom identifies 'big moment' in Team 18 win
Team 18 winning as a standalone squad is a “big moment” after years as a Triple Eight customer, says Mark Winterbottom.
Winterbottom broke through at the betr Darwin Triple Crown to win his first race since 2016, and Team 18’s first ever race.
Team 18 entered 2023 as a standalone outfit with cars built in-house, having previously raced old Triple Eight cars.
Charlie Schwerkolt’s team ran as a Triple Eight customer in recent years, but was unable to hit the front consistently.
Just 13 races into the team’s life as a fully-fledged Team 18 outfit, and it’s a Supercars race winner — something that wasn’t lost on Winterbottom.
“It’s a Team 18 car — everything they did has been done in-house,” Winterbottom said.
“That’s a big credit to the team. When you do become a customer of the team, everyone says, ‘Good job, but you copied them’.
“For the guys and girls here at Team 18, they’ve done everything themselves on these cars.
“This emotional rollercoaster… it’s a big moment.”
Winterbottom’s first race win for Team 18 helped fulfil a promise made to the team owner Schwerkolt, who brought over Ford’s favourite son in 2019.
The 2015 series champion joined Team 18 four years ago, but hadn’t scored a podium heading to Darwin, let alone a win.
Team 18 debuted on its own in 2016 after Schwerkolt first ran a fourth car at Tickford Racing and Walkinshaw Racing.
It came after Schwerkolt bought into Dick Johnson Racing in 2008, before leaving in 2010 — just after James Courtney won DJR’s first title since 1995.
“Charlie’s a very proud, successful person that brings his mates and wears his pride on his sleeve when he comes racing,” Winterbottom said.
“He dominates the forklift industry and he wants to dominate the Supercars industry, and he’s a very proud man.
“It’s a big moment, because when you leave a team and you go from a big team with 80 people to — I think we had 15 at the time — it’s a big step.
“But you’ve promised each other what you want out of it, and what you’re going to do — it’s a big moment to get that win.
“It’s not saying we’re going to win every race, by any means, but it’s one — it’s one that we said we were going to try and get.
“I said to him, ‘We’ll win a race; sign me and we’ll win a race.’”
The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the NTI Townsville 500 on July 7-9. Tickets are on sale now.
