‘Frosty’ changes race number for Townsville

Ford Performance Racing driver Mark Winterbottom will change his race number to #95 for the next race at Townsville, in reference to his special appearance in the Australian version of the upcoming Disney film Cars 2.

Winterbottom voices the character ‘Frosty’, which is the Sydney-driver’s nickname for the film.

The Frosty character replaces ‘Jeff Gorvette’, voiced by multiple NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon in the animated movie in the general international release. There are also various local variations including Scandinavian Touring Car driver Jan “Flash” Nilsson in the Swedish release (as ‘Flash’), and Formula 1 stars Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Vitaly Petrov in the Spanish, German and Russian releases respectively.

“It will be great to bring Cars 2 to the racetrack and although it will be a little strange to not see number five on my car, it is a great honour to be using the same number as a racing legend like Lightning McQueen,” said Winterbottom.

“Obviously Frosty spent a bit of time chatting with him at the party for the World Grand Prix so hopefully I can put McQueen’s tips to good use when we get to Townsville.”

“It is also pretty cool to have the name Frosty on the car, though I hope with all the changes our fans will still realise it’s me driving and not that good looking car from the movie.”