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

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

It capped off a strong 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 struggled for rear grip during the final race and couldn't move forward,” said Winterbottom.

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

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

“The team really made some solid progress this season and we have ended it with two very fast cars.”

Steven Richards struggled in the Castrol Ford, after two pit lane 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 positions in the final 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 championship in those races.

“All in all it has been a good season and while we didn't get the results 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 that we have made and.

“All is looking good for us to start next season on a major note.”

Ford Performance Racing also finished fourth in the Teams' 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 will begin their 2008 campaign at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide in late February.