Winterbottom wraps up Konica championship.

Young star Mark Winterbottom repaid the faith shown in him by his team by winning the Konica V8 Supercar Series in his first season with Stone Brothers Racing.

Winterbottom, who signed as part of the SBR youth programme on a five-year deal last season, showed maturity beyond his 21 years at Winton, to give the team its first championship - and Ford its first Konica title since 2000.

The Konica Series has been developed as a breeder series for the main V8 Supercar Championship, but has developed into a competitive competition in its own right. Winterbottom won the opening three rounds of the championship, was second at Phillip Island was third outright in today's penultimate round to clinch the title, but has faced stiff competition throughout, with Mathew White going into the penultimate round as the closest of several challengers.

"This is a fantastic feeling," Winterbottom admitted, "I think this is a great reward for everyone at Stone Brothers Racing and for our sponsors - especially Bruce Paton from Milligans Food Group. Ross and Jimmy Stone took a risk putting me into this championship straight out of Formula Ford and I have to thank them for their confidence."

The weekend started well for Winterbottom when he took Saturday's pole by more than half a second, but day two began on the wrong note when he lost an engine only a couple of laps into the official warm-up. Although the SBR crew completed a total engine change, the team just failed to make the starting grid and Winterbottom was forced to start the race from pit-lane.

Despite this, and the fact he was on running on seven cylinders from the opening lap, Winterbottom managed to fight his way through to finish 13th, before showing a lot of maturity in race two to eventually finish third, after starting mid-field in the reverse grid race, by just 0.26secs behind Mark Porter and another 1.2secs behind race winner Owen Kelly.

The result put him third on the grid for the final race which was to ultimately decide his fate. Winterbottom needed to finish a minimum of third in the final race - but made sure of the title by claiming second behind the day's overall winner, Andrew Jones, who collected the first V8 Supercar win for Brad Jones Racing.

Winterbottom missed the start and slotted into fourth, but had picked the spot back up by turn three. He moved into second on lap four and maintained his place through several safety car periods.

"We certainly did it the hard way today, but we hung in there, didn't panic and got the job done. I thought we had blown our chances after the warm-up and race one, but in the end we got there. To win this championship in my first year is a dream come true."

Today was extra special for team owners Ross and Jimmy Stone, who claimed the first title for SBR and their first in the business since they engineered John Bowe's car at Dick Johnson Racing in 1995.

SBR will now be totally focused on the V8 Supercar Championship Series in which both their drivers, Marcos Ambrose - currently first overall - and Russell Ingall (fifth), are battling it out for the crown.

"It is nice to get the first one under our belts," said Ross Stone, "It is great for Mark, our sponsors and the team.

"We did make hard work of it today, but we bounced back and that's what counts in this business. We now have to get on with the other championship and see what we end up with."

Winterbottom will now go to the final round of the championship at Mallala on 30-31 August without a worry in the world.