SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 03: Mark Winterbottom drives the #1 The Bottle-O Racing Ford Falcon FGX during race 28 for the Sydney 500, which is part of the Supercars Championship at Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit on December 3, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images)

Prodrive Racing endured a rough outing in the penultimate race at the Sydney 500 with tyre life and collisions hampering a strong start to the race.

Mark Winterbottom pushed up to fifth from his p7 starting position before an aggressive Shane Van Gisbergen ran up the inside of The Bottle-O Ford.

The initial bump and subsequent damage to the front left of car 1 prompted a front bar change, putting Winterbottom 5 laps down.

“I am disappointed with the result as we had such a great start and were in the mix early,” Frosty explained. “Unfortunately I got turned around and had several impacts which tore up the front bar and meant we had to get it fixed.”

“As a result we dropped laps and after that we just circulated to get as many points as we can. We lost a bit of ground in the driver and team championships today so we’ll battle on tomorrow and finish fighting all the way to the last lap.”