Mark Winterbottom has finished fifth in the 2007 V8 Supercꦡar Championship Series after claiming an overall result of sixth at the Dunlop Grand ꦑFinale.

Winterbottom finished in the top ten across all three races of the weeken𝓀d after a disappointing qualifying result.

It capped off a sඣtrong end to his 2007 🤪season and sees him head towards 2008 as a championship favourite.

"We used all of our tyres in the first two races and I flat-spotted a tyre in qualifying, so we didn't have the tyres we needed and I was struggꦛled for re✅ar grip during the final race and couldn't move forward," said Winterbottom.

"We still held out to ಞfinish fifth and take a solid 5th place in the Championship.

"All in all it has been a very good season, I am proud of t🍌he Pole ℱaward that we gained but a little disappointed that we weren't able to fight for the Championship.

"The team really made some solid progre𝐆ss this season and we have ended it wi🐓th two very fast cars."

Steven Richards struggled in the Castrol Ford, after two pit la﷽ne penalties for loose bodywork in race one effectively ended his hopes of a strong result at Phillip Island this weekend.

"I made up a couple of po꧑sitions in the finalꦜ race after making up a heap of ground in the second heat," said Richards.

"We just didn't manage to take enough points from Skaife for the Team's cha🎃mpionship in those races.

"All in all it has been a good season and while we didn't get the re🔜sults that we were after, we had a reasonable finish in the end.

"Everyone in the team should hold their heads up high with the progress thꦆat we have made and.

"All is looking goꦏod for us to st🅘art next season on a major note."

Ford Performance Racing also finishe🅷d fourth in the 𓃲Teams' championship, two places lower than its result last year.

The team's highlight for the year was Mark Winterbottom's round win at the Bahrain International Circuit, coupled with ♏a swag of podium finishes for both drivers, and the blistering qualifying efforts also shown by Winterbottom throughout the year, which culminated in him winning the ArmorAll pole position award.

FPR 𓆏will begin their 2008 campaign at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide in late February.