Australian Joseph Mawson has ended his 2013 international campaign with a 17th placing in in the final round of the CIK-FIA World Championship in Bahrain.

Mawson, who has been supported in his 2013 international campaign by the Australian Motor Sport Foundation, matched the times of the leading contenders throughout the weekend, but was caught up in several incidents to mask his overall performance.

The Italian-based Sydney-sider started 16th in the final before being caught up in a turn one incident that dropped him to 28th position at the end of the opening lap.

“It was just one of those weekends, every time I got into a good position and things were looking good, I got crashed into,” said Mawson.

“I probably had the most pace I’ve had all year but track position was the key because everyone’s lap times were so close. During the final I was setting lap times that were quicker than the leader but I was forced to fight my way back from 28th after getting knocked off at turn one.

“In the pre-final I had moved from 19th to ninth in eight laps, which would have been a great place to start the final from, but I got driven over by another competitor and lost a heap of spots. After that the spark plug lead came off, so I lost positions again and was almost back to where I started.”

After being based in Italy since January, Mawson returns to Australia this Friday before looking to finalise his plans for 2014 in the coming weeks.

“At this stage my plans for 2014 haven’t been finalised, we’re working hard to be back in Europe again either in karts or single seaters,” said Mawson.

British driver Tom Joyner won the event in Bahrain to secure the World Championship after title contenders Max Verstappen and Nicklas Nielsen came together in the final to end their campaigns.