Surfers V8 Supercars: Will Davison and Mika Salo win Surfers finale

On Saturday Salo had held the early lead only for Davison to crash their Ford Performance Racing Falcon on his out-lap after the driver charge.

Salo spent the first part of race two in fourth place, struggling with a handling problem, while Sebastien Bourdais pulled away up front in the Triple Eight Holden he shared with Jamie Whincup.

FPR chose to bring Salo into the pits early, meaning he would have to drive two stints whereas most of the international drivers would hand over to their V8 regular partners for the majority of the race.

Salo maintained the pace so well that by the time the divergent strategies had cycled through, Davison was running ahead of Whincup going into the closing stages.

Both were behind Tim Slade's James Rosenberg/Stone Brothers Ford, though. Slade and David Brabham had also taken an alternative strategy, getting a pitstop out of the way under the third safety car. That allowed them to appear in a surprise race lead once all the final stops were complete.

After a tough battle, Davison made it past Slade with 22 laps to go. Whincup and the second FPR car of Mark Winterbottom and Will Power soon followed, with Whincup then keeping pressure on Davison to the flag.

The championship leader ultimately had to settle for second, as Davison claimed his first win since Phillip Island in May.

Whincup finished right on his tail, with Winterbottom and Slade completing the top four.

Garth Tander and Ryan Briscoe claimed fifth for Holden Racing Team, followed by the second Triple Eight car of Craig Lowndes and Richard Lyons.

Russell Ingall, who shared his Walkinshaw Holden with Peter Dumbreck, held off a pack of cars for seventh.

Marc Lieb had again run very strongly in Jonathon Webb's Tekno Holden, holding second behind Bourdais in the first stint. But when Webb received a penalty for kerb-hopping, their podium challenge became a 14th-place finish.

Results - 102 laps:

Pos  Drivers                    Team/Car                    Time/Gap
 1.  Davison/Salo               FPR Ford               2h16m06.9161s
 2.  Whincup/Bourdais           Triple Eight Holden        + 0.5023s
 3.  Winterbottom/Power         FPR Ford                   + 2.1931s
 4.  Slade/Brabham              Rosenberg/SBR Ford         + 4.7583s
 5.  Tander/Briscoe             HRT Holden                 + 6.7205s
 6.  Lowndes/Lyons              Triple Eight Holden        + 9.9422s
 7.  Ingall/Dumbreck            Walkinshaw/HRT Holden     + 11.4888s
 8.  Holdsworth/Pagenaud        Stone Brothers Ford       + 11.6066s
 9.  van Gisbergen/Bleekemolen  Stone Brothers Ford       + 12.6979s
10.  Coulthard/Minassian        Brad Jones Holden         + 12.8490s
11.  Kelly/Rahal                Kelly Holden              + 13.8741s
12.  Johnson/Papis              Dick Johnson Ford         + 13.9017s
13.  Reynolds/Heidfeld          Rod Nash/FPR Ford         + 14.5725s
14.  Webb/Lieb                  Tekno Holden              + 17.0130s
15.  Wall/Campbell-Walter       Britek/BJR Holden         + 18.0038s
16.  Douglas/Conway             Dumbrell Holden           + 21.3784s
17.  Courtney/Turner            HRT Holden              + 1m15.4242s
18.  Owen/Said                  Paul Morris/DJR Ford         + 1 lap
19.  Fiore/Morbidelli           Triple F/DJR Ford          + 11 laps
20.  Murphy/Wilson              Kelly Holden               + 14 laps

Retirements:

     Blanchard/Andretti         Kelly Holden                 69 laps
     Caruso/Hinchcliffe         Garry Rogers Holden          34 laps
     Bright/Sarrazin            Brad Jones Holden            18 laps
     Patrizi/di Grassi          Tekno Holden                  0 laps
     Moffat/Kox                 Dick Johnson Ford             0 laps