Mark Winterbottom takes victory in first Barbagallo V8 Supercars race

But while one Ford Performance Racing driver won, the other lost the championship lead, as Will Davison was caught up in a first-lap incident.

Winterbottom's afternoon had got off to an odd start when contact with poleman Garth Tander as the cars formed up on the dummy grid mangled the FPR Falcon's door.

They would come together again on a disastrous opening lap for Tander, who saw the soft-tyre-shod Brad Jones Racing Holden of second-place starter Jason Bright go around the outside of him at the first corner to lead.

Triple Eight's Jamie Whincup also passed Tander (Holden Racing Team) further around the lap, with Winterbottom banging doors with Tander as he followed on the run to the last corner.

David Reynolds (Rod Nash/FPR Ford) then tried to demote Tander another place, but they made contact, spinning the Holden in front of the field. In the chain reaction that followed, Davison was spun into Tander's car, ending the latter's race and sending Davison to the garage for repairs.

Bright held the lead until the end of lap 13, when Whincup slipped down the inside. That started a gradual fade for Bright, with Winterbottom soon into second.

Winterbottom used hard tyres for the first stint and stayed close enough to Whincup that by pitting for softs two laps before the champion switched to hards, Winterbottom was able to jump ahead.

That settled the battle for the lead, with Winterbottom staying clear of Whincup to win by 3.3 seconds, although Davison's disaster meant Whincup still picked up the championship lead.

Whincup's team-mate Craig Lowndes drove a superb race to come from 16th on the grid to third, making a very early pitstop for softs and then holding off a massive train of cars to the flag.

Stone Brothers Ford's Lee Holdsworth, HRT's James Courtney and James Rosenberg/Stone Brothers' Tim Slade led the queue behind Lowndes, while an intermittent misfire meant Shane van Gisbergen fell back from a likely podium for Stone Brothers to seventh.

Results - 50 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                Time/Gap
 1.  Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford             52m48.8024s
 2.  Jamie Whincup        Triple 8 Holden        + 3.2861s
 3.  Craig Lowndes        Triple 8 Holden       + 21.2797s
 4.  Lee Holdsworth       Stone Brothers Ford   + 21.6093s
 5.  James Courtney       HRT Holden            + 22.0586s
 6.  Tim Slade            Rosenberg/SBR Ford    + 22.2656s
 7.  Shane van Gisbergen  Stone Brothers Ford   + 22.6870s
 8.  Michael Caruso       Garry Rogers Holden   + 22.9296s
 9.  Rick Kelly           Kelly Holden          + 23.4377s
10.  Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden     + 24.5348s
11.  Russell Ingall       Walkinshaw Holden     + 26.5728s
12.  Greg Murphy          Kelly Holden          + 27.0280s
13.  David Reynolds       Rod Nash/FPR Ford     + 28.0541s
14.  Jonathon Webb        Tekno Holden          + 30.3739s
15.  Fabian Coulthard     Brad Jones Holden     + 34.4275s
16.  Dean Fiore           Triple F Ford         + 34.5770s
17.  Alexandre Premat     Garry Rogers Holden   + 36.2181s
18.  Michael Patrizi      Tekno Holden          + 37.7487s
19.  Steven Johnson       Dick Johnson Ford     + 42.9124s
20.  Tony D'Alberto       D'Alberto Ford        + 42.9498s
21.  Todd Kelly           Kelly Holden          + 44.1316s
22.  David Wall           Britek/BJR Holden     + 46.6427s
23.  Karl Reindler        Kelly Holden             + 1 lap
24.  Taz Douglas          Dumbrell Holden          + 1 lap
25.  Will Davison         FPR Ford                + 9 laps

Retirements:

    Steve Owen           Dick Johnson Ford        26 laps
    James Moffat         Dick Johnson Ford         7 laps
    Garth Tander         HRT Holden                0 laps