The V8 Supercar Championship has been run, but at this stage not officially won after a dramatic final race of the season at the Caterpillar Grand Finale at Victoria's Phillip Island.

Craig Lowndes (Team Betta Electrical) and rival Rick Kelly went into the final race of three on equal-points in the championship, but an incident on just the second lap has officials reviewing the final outcome.

Kelly hit the rear of Lowndes' Falcon which in turn set-off a chain reaction of spinning and crashing cars.

Lowndes continued in the race but finished 29th and four laps down. Kelly was given a drive-through penalty and finished 18th. However, officials were reviewing the final results after the race.

The Investigation and Prosecuting Officer (IPO) Peter Wollerman determined that the drive-through penalty was sufficient for the incident in the race.

Triple Eight Race Engineering has not accepted that decision and a protest hearing will be held tomorrow (Monday 11 December) at midday in Melbourne. That hearing will be heard by the race stewards appointed by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS).

Unofficially Rick Kelly has finished ahead in the standings by just 37-points.

The result capped-off a weekend that featured Lowndes finishing ahead of Rick Kelly in the first two races. This was despite hard racing with other Holden drivers, including Mark Skaife and Garth Tander, who both caught the attention of race officials for blocking.

"It's a disappointing way to finish what has been one of the best years on the track for Ford," said Ford Racing Manager Ray Price.

"We can't be disappointed that we lost the championship. But we can feel disappointed that it was taken away.

"In terms of fair play over the three races this weekend I'm not convinced that we saw that. The fact that we had bad sportsmanship flags for Garth Tander and Mark Skaife for blocking, as well as a black flag for Tander for the same offence is a clear indication of this.

"Ford could not be any prouder of the efforts of Craig Lowndes and the entire Triple Eight Race Engineering operation. They have competed hard and fair throughout the entire season. The fact is that Lowndes won four rounds and Triple Eight won five all up this year, including victory at Bathurst.

"Despite what we have seen this weekend, Ford will continue to encourage hard but fair racing."

The round itself was won by Todd Kelly, with Mark Winterbottom (Ford Credit / FPV Ford Performance Racing) taking second place, including victory in the final race. Mark Skaife was third.

The result for Winterbottom consolidated his third placing in the championship. The highlight of the weekend being his first ever solo single race win. Winterbottom won the Sandown 500 in September sharing with Jason Bright.

"Great result for us," said Winterbottom.

"It's been a terrific year and to win the actual final race of the season is very special.

"We had great stops all weekend, but just as important was that we had great preparation.

"I set many goals this year; one was to actually win an individual solo race. To get third in the championship after finishing 29th last year is fantastic.

"I have not doubt that we can repeat this effort next year and even challenge for a title."

Teams now take a well-earned break. The V8 Supercar Championship series kicks of again in March at the Clipsal 500 on 1-4 March. That's just 12 weeks away.

ROUND RESULT : PHILLIP ISLAND ROUND 13 OF 13*

1. Todd Kelly - Holden Racing Team - Holden Commodore
2. Mark Winterbottom - Ford Credit / FPV Ford Performance Racing - Ford Falcon
3. Mark Skaife - Holden Racing Team - Holden Commodore
4. Steven Richards -Jack Daniel's Racing - Holden Commodore
5. Jason Bright - CAT Ford Performance Racing - Ford Falcon
6. Garth Tander - Toll HSV Dealer Team - Holden Commodore
7. Rick Kelly - Toll HSV Dealer Team - Holden Commodore
8. Cameron McConville - Super Cheap Auto Racing - Holden Commodore
9. Craig Lowndes - Team Betta Electrical - Ford Falcon
10. Jason Richards - Tasman Motorsport - Holden Commodore

CHAMPIONSHIP AFTER 13 OF 13 ROUNDS*

1. Rick Kelly - Toll HSV Dealer Team - Holden Commodore 3308 points
2. Craig Lowndes - Team Betta Electrical - Ford Falcon -37 points
3. Mark Winterbottom - Ford Credit / FPV Ford Performance Racing - Ford Falcon -219 points
4. Garth Tander - Toll HSV Dealer Team - Holden Commodore -343 points
5. Jason Bright - CAT Ford Performance Racing - Ford Falcon -440 points
6. Todd Kelly - Holden Racing Team - Holden Commodore -493 points
7. Steven Richards -Jack Daniel's Racing - Holden Commodore -568 points
8. Russell Ingall - Caltex Racing - Ford Falcon -600 points
9. Steven Johnson - First Rock Home Loans Racing - Ford Falcon -930 points
10. Jamie Whincup - Team Betta Electrical - Ford Falcon -951 points

*Subject to final confirmation

That is the key, we were totally robbed!!!

I hope the stewards see sense tomorrow and address it accordingly, although i doubt that is going to happen.

lowndes voiced his opinion over the tactics holden/v8supercars use at the indy round and copped a fine for it but its quite obvious now that he was pretty close to the truth. spot on in fact if you ask me. how can they allow the tactics that skaife, tander and t.kelly used to back up lowndes?? this was going on long before the incident in race 3. skaife and more so tander and kelly quite obviously had more speed in their cars and yet constantly lapped 1 - 1.5 sec per lap slower than those in front to hold up lowndes so r.kelly had half a chance. i guess in a way they are acknowledging that lowndes is the better driver and rick needs all the help he can get to get over the line. tander got penalised but way too late. tony cochrane couldn't get to r.kelly quick enough after the race. made me sick all the carry on like it was a deserving win. even cromley didn't have the guts to call it how it was. bunch of spineless commentators. why is it that sometimes you feel the whole country sees red (holden). car reviews, motorsport events etc always seems a small amount of bias toward the holden camp. maybe its jst because i have blue blood. why does skaife always feature so heavily in the broadcast still. he finished 16th in the competition. hasn't been anywhere for last 4 years.
hopefully next year we'll see a more fair coverage and competition.

and for those that bag ch7. when they had the footy there were many w/ends where every game of afl was televised. since then it hasn't happened once. some w/ends only 4 games covered depending on what state you're in.

Agree