Lowndes: It's been a frustrating season.

Craig Lowndes has admitted that the 2004 V8 Supercar season has left him 'frustrated' after a year when the Ford Performance Racing team has been plagued by reliability problems.

Both Lowndes, and teammate Glenn Seton, will leave the FPR team at the end of the season - Lowndes to join Team Betta Electrical, and Seton to Shell Helix Racing.

However Lowndes heads into his final races with the team determined to end the season in a high.

"To be honest the season has been frustrating, only in the sense of reliability, not because of anything else with the team," he told Crash.net before the Bathurst 1000. "That is something that we have worked hard on coming into the latter part of the season. We got an Aussie guy in who has worked very hard in V8 Supercars and has done a stint in NASCAR to build us an engine to get us over the problems we have had.

"For us as drivers, we don't like to be a DNF in any race because of mechanical failures, so we just need to get over that. The boys work hard to make sure the car is well presented and gets on track.

"Even though it was my decision to leave the team, the guys and the managers have been very good so I must commend them on that. I'm still pushing hard to try and give them success, it would be nice to give something back."

With a second place finish at Bathurst secured, Lowndes will aim for another good result this weekend as the V8 Supercars compete alongside the Champ Car World Series at Surfers Paradise.