FOR most of his career Mark Winterbottom has called Michael Caruso a rival, but now that rival has turned ally and together the pair will fight a talent-packed grid for a Bathurst 1000 podium in NSW's Central West.
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Though Winterbottom raced go-karts against Caurso in his junior years and spent more than a decade as a rival on the Supercars grid, he has discovered plenty more about him since it was announced they'd pair up for this year's Great Race.
"Him and I have raced against each other for years. It's funny as you think you know someone until you team up with them and then you can change your thoughts on them," Winterbottom, who is two years older than Caruso, said.
"When you race against someone you see them as, not the enemy, but they're the person you want to beat. But when you team up with someone, you try and take all their experience and their goodness and try and make it better for the team and better for your result."
Winterbottom will share his #18 Team 18 Commodore with Caruso in what will be his 19th start in the Bathurst 1000.
But Winterbottom, the 2013 Great Race winner, thinks Caruso deserves more than being called a co-driver.
In fact he thinks the same can be said for many of the drivers who will link with full-timers for the Supercars season finale this week.
"I don't like that term co-driver because they're too good to be called a co-driver. Many of them should be main drivers in their own right," he said.
"I think we could start with him [Caruso], we could finish with him, you could put him in the middle of the race, you can kind of run him at any point of the day and know the car is going to come back, it's going to be fast and you'll be in a good position.
"But a lot of teams that can say that this year, there are a lot of good drivers that aren't full-time who probably should be and that's the battle."
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As Winterbottom points out, there are plenty of formidable driver pairing for this year's 161-lap epic.
Defending champions Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander have united once more, while the second Red Bull Racing entry will be shared by Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes who have won three editions of Bathurst together and 11 in total.
Kelly Racing's David Reynolds reunites with Luke Youlden, the same man he won the 2017 Great Race with, while Walkinshaw's Chaz Mostert is paired with Lee Holdsworth, a driver who was in last year's top 10 shootout at Bathurst.
There are plenty more co-drivers on the grid who have previously earned Bathurst podiums as well, the likes of Warren Luff, Jonathon Webb, Jack Perkins, Tony D'Alberto and James Moffat, while two-time 1000 champion Russell Ingall joins young gun Broc Feeney in a wildcard entry.
"You can lose the race without even being in the car - it's crazy how much importance they have. It's a big line-up this year, but I know I'm in as good a position as anyone else," Winterbottom said.
"There's no guarantees at Bathurst for anyone, 161 laps is a long way and we've seen cars out before the race even starts. It's a big weekend, anyone's a chance to win it, and that's why we all love Bathurst."
Winterbottom and Caruso will take to the track for the first time on Thursday when the Supercars series stages two, one-hour practice sessions. The first begins at 10am, the second to follow at 4.25pm.
