Ford Performance Racing (FPR) V8 Supercar team driver Mark Winterbottom visited Adelaide today to make this announcement which will see the 28 year old joining forces with Tenneco to become the company’s lead ambassador for Australia’s most trusted shock absorber brand, Monroe Shock Absorbers.

Known as “Frosty” by fans and the media, Winterbottom will unveil a completely re-designed helmet livery based on the world renowned Monroe logo throughout the challenging 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series.

This alliance makes Winterbottom the face of the well known Monroe brand through customer communications, print media advertising and point of sale material.

“I couldn’t think of a better place to make this announcement than here in Adelaide, which hosts the most outstanding race of our season each year with the Clipsal 500. This is also the Australian home of Monroe, whose quality ride control products are a glowing testimony to the dedication of the South Australians who manufacture them,” Mark said.

Mark Winterbottom will appear at major trade and consumer events representing the Monroe brand during the year and will also promote the highly successful Monroe Safety Specialist trade program. In leveraging this new marketing partnership, Tenneco will also unveil a number of exciting Monroe shock absorber sales promotions and competitions to take place during 2010.

According to Tenneco’s Aftermarket Director, Roger Lassen, the association with Mark Winterbottom is part of an exciting marketing strategy for the company.

“As an Adelaide based company which is Australia’s market leader in ride control products, it makes perfect sense to align the Monroe shock absorber brand with a leading V8 Supercar driver who has enormous talent and broad appeal to both our trade customers and end users. Mark is also a strong advocate for road safety through his dedicated work off the track with the V8 Supersafe program. This fits in well with the enhanced road safety messages that we deliver through our Monroe shock absorber marketing. We are looking forward to an exciting year with Mark and wish him and his team every success in the fight for the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship.”

This announcement follows Winterbottom’s signing of a new three year contract with FPR, representing the next chapter in his meteoric career with the Prodrive owned team which is Ford Australia’s major team competing in V8 Supercars.

“It is truly great to be aligned with a world famous automotive brand such as Monroe. I am proud of the fact that Tenneco manufactures world class Monroe shock absorbers here in Australia and look forward to playing my part in promoting this quality brand through my V8 Supercar racing efforts. We are heading for a remarkable racing season, starting in Abu Dhabi later this month, then here on the streets of Adelaide to kick off our national tour that extends all the way through to December.” Mark Winterbottom added.

Since joining FPR in 2006, Winterbottom has raced to 14 V8 Supercar event victories, 51 podium (top three) finishes and 12 Pole positions (top qualifier). He has finished in the top ten in 80% of the races in which he has competed with FPR. In a sport whereby qualifying differences are measured in tenths, hundredths and thousandths of a second, Winterbottom has qualified in the top three in no less than 44% of his races with FPR. In the past five seasons, he has not finished outside of the top five in the V8 Supercar Championship Series, the highlight being his runner-up placing in 2008.

The new Monroe brand ambassador is without a doubt one of the most exciting talents to compete in Australia’s premier motor racing category.

From perfecting the first self-oiled, single-barreled tyre pump in the USA back in 1918, the Monroe Auto Equipment Company developed what they called a shock eliminator to make cars more comfortable and easier to control in the 1920’s. Within 25 years, the Monroe-Matic, the first double action shock absorber, was the best known shock absorber in the world, used by most American car makers through the 1950s. From that point on the Monroe shock absorber range has been synonymous with enhancing road safety and comfort through optimum control and tyre grip. Today, parent company Tenneco is one of the world’s largest automotive component manufacturers and marketers, with brands such as Walker and Lukey Performance joining Monroe as leading Original Equipment and Aftermarket suppliers of choice in Australia and across the world. Tenneco employs 655 South Australians in its major manufacturing plants located in Clovelly Park and O’Sullivan Beach and a further 150 staff across Australia.