Frosty in his element at Grand Prix.

Ford Performance Racing's new driver Mark Winterbottom has continued his impressive string of top ten finishes this weekend with a seventh placing in the feature Panasonic V8 GP 100 at Albert Park this afternoon.

Despite slipping one position overall, Winterbottom maintained his position throughout the race, and along with fellow Ford youngster Will Davison delivered the Blue Oval another encouraging finish from the marque's youthful contingent.

Winterbottom felt his result could have been better had he not shaved a tyre bundle whilst passing his teammate Jason Bright during the race.

"The car was good on its tyres and I knew it would be strong in terms of grip for the first ten laps, so it was a close race hanging on to the lead group, but when I passed Jason I clipped a tyre bundle and bent the steering," said Winterbottom.

"Without this I am sure that we could have finished a lot higher than 7th today. I will be doing all I can to take home a better result tomorrow."

Bright was looking good early, however soon started slipping back into the pack as his tyres began to deteriorate. His situation was compounded when he was spun by Max Wilson on lap fifteen and was forced to pit-in to repair damage. Unfortunately for Bright - his top ten start resulted in a bottom ten finish.

"I had reasonable pace early on but started to struggle a bit with tyres by the late stages," said Bright.

"I was turned around late in the race and the way I saw it Davison overshot the corner. When I went to double back on him, Wilson hit me from behind and that ended any chance of a top ten finish."

Ford Performance Racing's Team Principal Tim Edwards was pleased with Winterbottom's drive in the Ford Credit GT Falcon, however felt that the Caterpillar Falcon could have joined 'Frosty' in the top ten.

"It was a great drive by Mark today, he had a competitive race pace which probably wasn't quite as fast as some of the drivers ahead of him to be able to overtake, but certainly strong enough to stay with them," said Edwards.

"What happened to Jason was very disappointing, to be clipped by Davison and then spun around by another competitor was completely unnecessary in a race which carries no Championship points at all. We were the second fastest Ford team in the race and second highest placed Ford finishers, so we are looking forward to tomorrow's final Grand Prix race."

The last race for the Panasonic V8 Supercars at the Australian Grand Prix will be run as a curtain raiser to the feature Formula One event - coincidently the series which FPR-operators Prodrive are contemplating an entry in the near future. Mark Winterbottom will start from seventh, whilst Bright will start from twenty-fourth on the grid.