Phillip Island V8s: Whincup resists Winterbottom and Lowndes

Lowndes had boosted his championship hopes with a superb charge to victory in Sunday's opening race, and burst to the front again around the outside at the start of race three.

But this time Lowndes could not stay up front, with both Triple Eight Holden team-mate Whincup and Ford Performance Racing's Winterbottom overtaking him in the early laps.

Two mid-race safety cars - the first when Lee Holdsworth's Mercedes shed a wheel, the second after a multi-car midfield tangle on the restart lap - kept the leaders close.

Winterbottom was all over Whincup for the lead into the closing laps, but the champion produced a record lap to get a bit of breathing space.

Whincup crossed the line 0.8 seconds ahead as Winterbottom had to focus on pressure from Lowndes for second.

The result means Whincup goes to next month's Sydney decider 20 points ahead of Lowndes, with 300 available.

Brad Jones Racing duo Jason Bright and Fabian Coulthard completed the top five, followed by Winterbottom's team-mate Will Davison.

Nissan got two drivers in the top eight with James Moffat and Rick Kelly.

Results - 23 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                      Time/Gap
 1.  Jamie Whincup        Triple Eight Holden        42m22.9005s
 2.  Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford                      +0.8850s
 3.  Craig Lowndes        Triple Eight Holden           +1.4046s
 4.  Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden             +1.8961s
 5.  Fabian Coulthard     Brad Jones Holden             +2.8541s
 6.  Will Davison         FPR Ford                      +4.6847s
 7.  James Moffat         Nissan                        +7.5446s
 8.  Rick Kelly           Nissan                        +8.5646s
 9.  Alex Davison         Schwerkolt/FPR Ford           +9.9538s
10.  Shane van Gisbergen  Tekno Holden                 +10.1618s
11.  Scott McLaughlin     GRM Holden                   +10.7854s
12.  David Reynolds       Rod Nash/FPR Ford            +11.3211s
13.  Todd Kelly           Nissan                       +11.7627s
14.  Scott Pye            Dumbrell Holden              +12.2277s
15.  Garth Tander         HRT Holden                   +12.8228s
16.  Tim Blanchard        Dick Johnson Ford            +13.0401s
17.  David Wall           Britek/BJR Holden            +13.7364s
18.  Dean Fiore           Dumbrell Holden              +14.9464s
19.  Maro Engel           Erebus Mercedes              +16.3100s
20.  Tim Slade            Rosenberg/Erebus Mercedes    +27.8549s

Retirements:

     Michael Caruso       Nissan                         21 laps
     Chaz Mostert         Dick Johnson Ford              14 laps
     Russell Ingall       Walkinshaw/HRT Holden          14 laps
     Jonathon Webb        Tekno Holden                   12 laps
     Tony D'Alberto       D'Alberto Holden               11 laps
     Lee Holdsworth       Erebus Mercedes                 9 laps