Ford’s Mark Winterbottom has won his maiden Bathurst 1000 title after a dramatic finish on Mount Panorama on Sunday.

He held out V8 Supercars series leader and defending champion Jamie Whincup in the five-hour epic while a fast finishing Craig Lowndes celebrated his 20th Bathurst and 500th career start with third.

Remarkably Winterbottom had never podiumed in 10 Bathurst starts before the 2013 race.

It also marked the first Bathurst triumph for factory backed Ford Performance Racing (FPR), boosting the Blue Oval’s overall Mount Panorama tally to 20 wins.

The victory came a day after Ford ended speculation and confirmed they would support FPR again next year despite announcing in May they would cease manufacturing in Australia and retire the Falcon by 2016.

MORE TO COME