Winterbottom: Future announcement 'coming very shortly'

Mark Winterbottom has teased his next move is in the pipeline, with the champion driver saying an announcement of his 2025 plans is "coming very shortly."

The outgoing Team 18 driver confirmed Thursday that he will not be in a full-time seat on the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship grid.

It ends a 21-year unbroken spell in the main game, with a young Winterbottom debuting for Mark Larkham's team in 2004, before sealing a plumb drive at Ford Performance Racing for 2006.

Winterbottom was the headline act at FPR, later Prodrive Racing Australia and Tickford Racing, for over a decade, winning the 2013 Bathurst 1000 and 2015 drivers' championship.

While nothing has been announced regarding 2025, Winterbottom has already stated he wants to return to the Mountain and claim another Great Race victory, shedding light on an incoming co-drive deal.

"I do believe things happen for a reason though. And it is true that when one door closes, another door opens," Winterbottom said a heartfelt video.

“While I no longer will be on the grid full time, I do plan to continue to get back to this sport that I love and the amazing people that surround it with another announcement coming very shortly."

Winterbottom will join the newly retired Tim Slade on the co-driver market, with Scott Pye (Triple Eight Race Engineering) and Garth Tander (Grove Racing) already contracted for 2025.

Pye's first year out of the full-time stakes led to a Sandown 500 victory, while Tander has already added two Bathurst wins since being left out of a drive in 2019.

Lee Holdsworth did the same for Walkinshaw Andretti United in 2021, alongside Chaz Mostert, while Todd Hazelwood will be a gun-for-hire after winning the Great Race with Erebus Motorsport.

Winterbottom will resume his 2024 Repco Supercars Championship campaign at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on October 25-27. Tickets for the event are on sale now.

Live coverage can be found on Foxtel, with live streaming available on Kayo. The Seven Network will take free to air coverage. International viewers can follow all the action on Superview.