Irwin continue with Mark Winterbottom for 2020 campaign

Mark Winterbottom will have continuity going in to his second season with Team 18 as title sponsor Irwin tools stays on to back the #18 Holden Commodore.

The 2015 Supercars champion is looking for better and more consistent results in his second year with Charlie Schwerkolt’s team, having moved from Ford to Holden at the end of 2018.

Having taken the squad’s first pole position at Symmons Plains last season, Winterbottom was unable to capitalise over the rest of the season, posting a best finish of fourth and ending the year 13th in the points.

With a new engineer in ex-Garry Rogers Motorsport man, Manuel Sanchez, Winterbottom says he’s keen to get 2020 underway with the same backers and improve on last year’s results.

“It’s great to reveal the new look for the IRWIN Racing Commodore for the 2020 season,” said Winterbottom.

“To start 2020 with something I know, the same partners and the same team, we can carry it forward and I’m looking forward to putting it into practice this year… 2019 was a very new year for me swapping over from Ford to Holden.

“I definitely feel a lot more comfortable now and although the team has expanded in the off-season, we’ve retained a lot of the same crew and complemented them with some new people.

“The Supercars Championship is such a tough category. Every year you have to improve or be left behind, so hopefully there is a good year coming up with the package we have put together.

“Inconsistency let us down last year. We got pole position in Tasmania last year and then we qualified 20th at Phillip Island so we need to make sure our good tracks remain strong and our troubling tracks become better.

“It’s been a busy off-season for Team 18, but we’re really confident heading into this year that we can perform better.”

Winterbottom will be the lead driver in the team’s expanded two-car operation, having signed Scott Pye to steer the squad’s second Commodore and fight for higher spots in the team’s championship.