FPR gets Frosty.

Ending speculation that has been ongoing for some time, Ford Performance Racing has confirmed that Mark Winterbottom will be joining the Melbourne-based Prodrive-run squad in the Australian V8 Supercar Series from next year.

Winterbottom has been announced as a FPR driver for 2006 and 2007, with options from the squad to extend the deal for a further three years.

"Joining Ford's factory V8 Supercar Team represents the biggest step of my career," says Winterbottom, who had recently been annouced as having re-signed with Orrcon Racing / Larkham Motorsport before the squad released a further statement to say they were releasing him at the end of this season.

"I am excited about joining forces with a driver as experienced as Jason Bright along with having the technical support of Prodrive. It has always been my goal to join a major team so I could be in a position to compete for the championship. I am looking forward to building a strong relationship with the team and the new season can't start soon enough!"

Ford Racing manager, Ross Booth, is happy to get Winterbottom into the big money FPR squad. "It is fantastic that we have been able to retain Mark Winterbottom as a Ford driver well into the future and for this young driver to have gained his break with a major Ford team in FPR," says Booth. "He is an exceptionally talented young driver who is joining FPR at the right time as we expect the team to be Championship contenders next season. Together with Jason Bright, the 2006 FPR driver line up combines both youth and experience and we are very confident that this driver pairing will be very successful."

FPR's motorsport director, Tim Edwards, reckons Winterbottom is vital to the squad's future. "We are very pleased to finalise our 2006 driver line up with Mark Winterbottom joining Jason Bright," says Edwards. "

Given all of the work and progress that we have made this season, Mark is joining us at a very exciting time. He has displayed his talent both in the development series and in the main series and the length of our agreement with Mark reflects our belief in him becoming a vital part of FPR's future."

Winterbottom will have his first drive in the Ford Credit FPV Falcon during the two forthcoming FPR Ride Days scheduled for December 8 and 9 at Victoria's Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.