It was a year that gave rise to his maiden Bathurst victory, but Mark Winterbottom still feels 2013 has been one of missed opportunities.

“If we can finish it off with the championship, that would obviously change our opinion of it,” the Ford driver joked ahead of the V8 Supercars’ title-deciding final round in Sydney.

Winterbottom is one of three main contenders for this year’s crown, 124 points behind leader Jamie Whincup and 104 points back from Craig Lowndes.

But with 300 points up for grabs over this weekend’s two races, even his Ford teammate Will Davison – carrying a 223-point deficit – is still an outside chance.

Yet Winterbottom, who finished third fastest in practice on Friday, is feeling no pressure to clinch his first V8 championship.

“This is pretty easy compared to the final lap of Bathurst,” he said, referring to his tense tussle at Mount Panorama with defending champion Whincup in October.

“It’s nowhere near as stressful as what that was.

“When you look at it, they’re (Whincup and Lowndes) in front, they’re expected to win it now.

“I’ve got no pressure really. I can just go out and try go out on a high.”

Winterbottom’s year didn’t get off to a great start. He was forced to retire from the season’s opening race in Adelaide and only managed a best finish of 19th in four races at Auckland in round three.

But he’s made up plenty of ground since, posting nine podiums and three wins – including the Bathurst 1000 – in the past 17 races.

“We fought back really well but it just feels like a year of missed opportunity at the moment,” he said.

“124 points – I could count one race meet that lost me that. There’s a massive amount of races that I’ve lost points.

“It might be a missed opportunity but you go down swinging and to the end in the hope you can change the story a little bit.”

Qualifying begins at 11.55am on Saturday, with race one starting at 5.10pm followed by the season-ending race on Sunday.