Winton V8 Supercars: Mark Winterbottom boosts title bid with win
Mark Winterbottom resisted Jason Bright to win the second V8 Supercars race at Winton, and made major gains on championship leader Jamie Whincup in the process
Whincup and Triple Eight's horrible weekend got worse on Sunday morning as a tailshaft vibration left Whincup back in 18th on the grid, alongside struggling team-mate and title rival Craig Lowndes.
Then the champion's race barely got started. Alexandre Premat ran across the grass between Turns 1 and 2 on the first lap, and caused a chain-reaction accident as he rejoined, with Whincup and Garth Tander among those worst affected.
Triple Eight got Whincup's car back out six laps down but ultimately had to retire it.
Winterbottom had taken advantage of Bright's faltering getaway from pole to shoot past both the Brad Jones Holden and its shock front row partner owner/driver Tony D'Alberto into the first corner.
At first Winterbottom pulled clear, building a two-second lead.
But Bright was conserving his tyres and came back to hound Winterbottom to the chequered flag.
The Ford Performance Racing man met all Bright's challenges and won by four tenths of a second.
D'Alberto (pictured) lost what would have been his first podium late on when James Courtney finally made it past. The privateer still held Shane van Gisbergen and David Reynolds at bay to claim fourth.
Lowndes salvaged 12th for Triple Eight.
Saturday winner James Moffat came back to earth with a depressing 25th on the grid, but impressed by charging to 11th in the race.
Michael Caruso, the other half of Nissan's historic one-two in race one, was a victim of the first-lap pile-up.
Results - 34 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Mark Winterbottom FPR Ford 50m25.5250s 2. Jason Bright Brad Jones Holden +0.4231s 3. James Courtney HRT Holden +6.2641s 4. Tony D'Alberto D'Alberto Holden +11.2679s 5. Shane van Gisbergen Tekno Holden +11.7664s 6. David Reynolds Rod Nash/FPR Ford +12.1468s 7. Will Davison FPR Ford +17.7943s 8. Fabian Coulthard Brad Jones Holden +18.2091s 9. Scott McLaughlin GRM Holden +23.0357s 10. David Wall Britek/BJR Holden +23.2810s 11. James Moffat Nissan +23.7814s 12. Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Holden +30.4899s 13. Chaz Mostert Dick Johnson Ford +34.1712s 14. Todd Kelly Nissan +34.5420s 15. Scott Pye Dumbrell Holden +34.9926s 16. Dean Fiore Dumbrell Holden +35.2655s 17. Maro Engel Erebus Mercedes +35.6877s 18. Alex Davison Schwerkolt/FPR Ford +40.2273s 19. Tim Slade Rosenberg/Erebus Mercedes +44.5459s 20. Lee Holdsworth Erebus Mercedes +44.5459s 21. Tim Blanchard Dick Johnson Ford +46.4370s 22. Rick Kelly Nissan +46.9909s 23. Garth Tander HRT Holden +5 laps 24. Jonathon Webb Tekno Holden +7 laps Retirements: Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Holden 20 laps Michael Caruso Nissan 6 laps Russell Ingall Walkinshaw/HRT Holden 0 laps Alexandre Premat GRM Holden 0 laps
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