best of the rest was a battle between two ford teams. mark winterbottom won at surfers paradise and finished fifth in the drivers championship for ford performance racing while at dick johnson racing, steven johnson finished sixth and his team mate james courtney took two street circuit victories at the townsville 400 and sydney 500. the only upset win was michael caruso's debut win at hidden valley raceway. caruso's win for garry rogers motorsport was also the only holden race win not scored by the holden racing team as the three top ford team shared honours.