New look and new deal for Winterbottom and FPR

Thursday, 02 February 2012 13:33 Media Release

More than one new look at the Orrcon Racing launch

Ford Performance Racing (FPR) has unveiled its new look #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon and driver Mark Winterbottom believes greater consistency and more race wins during the 2012 V8 Supercar Championship season will ensure he and the team can be in contention for the title.

Winterbottom, who revealed his new look on ice at the Medibank Icehouse in Melbourne alongside Olympic gold medallist Steven Bradbury, also announced he will race for the factory Ford team until at least the end of the 2014 season after extending his contract.

The Ford driver was the pacesetter by the end of last season and despite breaking his leg in a water skiing accident late last year, ‘Frosty’ will be fit and ready for the season-opening race at the start of March.

Winterbottom believes the team’s form at the end of last season, coupled with a stable technical line-up which has now had a season to gel, will give him the tools needed to be at the head of the field for the entire season.

“We enter the new season with a stable technical package, a motivated and very fit crew and the knowledge that we now have a very fast car on all types of tracks,” Winterbottom said.

“As a team we know that we have to score more points than last year and win more races than last year and we have worked very hard in the off-season to ensure we have the tools to do just that.

“A broken tibia is not the ideal preparation but the fact it happened well before the first race and is my left leg which doesn’t get used much at all driving the car means I don’t expect any issues at all when we arrive in Adelaide for the Clipsal 500.

FPR Team Principal Tim Edwards attended the launch and knows the team must be more consistent in 2012.

“We have a simple goal for the year that should stand us in good stead,” Edwards said.

“That is to score more points and more wins more often. We achieved that by the end of last year but this is a new season and we need to maintain a high-level of performance across all the events.

“When we give Mark the car he needs he has shown that he is a race winner so we just need to ensure we give him that week in, week out.”

Winterbottom will take the wheel of the new look #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon for the first time in 2012 at the V8 Supercars Season Launch test day at Sandown Raceway in Melbourne on Saturday, 11 February.