Winterbottom holds on to win race two

In what proved to be a crucial move, Winterbottom retook the lead at the end of the back straight after the fast right sweeper, having lost out to Bright off the line. But the damp track saw him run wide into the entry of the left-hander at the end of the straight.

Winterbottom and Bright made contact, the duo running wide, allowing Craig Lowndes to get alongside Winterbottom through the next left, but Winterbottom hung on around the outside to retake the lead as they started lap two. From there, he came under pressure from Bright and Paul Dumbrell throughout the race, but they couldn't get past.

Second for Dumbrell saw him record his best-ever finish in V8 Supercar, not quite able to pass his team-mate but resisting Jason Bright who ran second before the final round of pitstops.

The two Paul Morris cars of Russell Ingall and Greg Murphy continued their strong weekend in fourth and fifth places, Ingall having spent 35 laps on Murphy's bumper after the first safety car period before finally passing him after Murphy was baulked by a backmarker.

Garth Tander finished sixth, with Todd Kelly, Fabian Coulthard, Steven Richards and Lee Holdsworth completing the top 10.

Of the top three in the championship before the race, championship leader James Courtney ended the race best placed, in 12th position, moving ahead of team-mate Steven Johnson on the final lap.

After qualifying 21st, he showed speed in the early laps to move up to 14th before the first safety car. But just before the safety car came out, he ran into the back of Lee Holdsworth, Holdsworth going off and losing six places.

Just before the third safety car, Courtney was given a drive-through penalty, but had to wait until after the restart to take the penalty, dropping as low as 22nd before climbing back to 12th by the finish.

After what looked like a dark day for Courtney and a bright one for Team Vodafone after qualifying, by race end it was a different matter. Lowndes was running second when on lap four, his gear shifter pulled out of the floor of his car. It was repaired, but it happened again and having lost too many laps, his day was over.

Team-mate Jamie Whincup's day didn't end much better, despite running in the top 10 throughout the race and looking set for fifth with just over 10 laps remaining.

But an issue at his previous pitstop meant he didn't have enough fuel to make the finish, and the stop for fuel dropped him to 15th from where he was unable to improve.

Pre-race, the top three of Courtney, Lowndes and Whincup looked set to move closer together. Even in the closing stages of the race Whincup looked set to retake the lead from Courtney.

Instead, Courtney's lead over Whincup grows by nine points to 50, with race winner Mark Winterbottom leapfrogging Lowndes to take over third place, 200 points behind Courtney, Lowndes now 257 points with 600 points up for grabs in the final four races.

Pos  Driver                Make                  Time
 1.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG        1h25m58.9978s
 2.  Paul Dumbrell         Ford Falcon FG        +     0.7509s
 3.  Jason Bright          Holden Commodore VE   +     1.2891s
 4.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE   +     3.2280s
 5.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE   +    14.6524s
 6.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE   +    15.5314s
 7.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +    20.9148s
 8.  Fabian Coulthard      Holden Commodore VE   +    22.0601s
 9.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        +    22.6186s
10.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE   +    23.2824s
11.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        +    24.6185s
12.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        +    36.4829s
13.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG        +    36.8571s
14.  Karl Reindler         Holden Commodore VE   +    37.0547s
15.  Jamie Whincup         Holden Commodore VE   +    41.3131s
16.  Jonathon Webb         Ford Falcon FG        +    41.9211s
17.  Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE   +      1 lap
18.  Tim Slade             Ford Falcon FG        +      1 lap
19.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        +      1 lap
20.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE   +      1 lap
21.  Warren Luff           Holden Commodore VE   +      1 lap
22.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE   +      3 laps
23.  Dean Fiore            Ford Falcon FG        +      5 laps
24.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE   +      8 laps
25.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +     15 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make                  Laps
     Tony Ricciardello     Holden Commodore VE    48
     Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE    32
     Craig Lowndes         Holden Commodore VE    17
     Andrew Thompson       Holden Commodore VE    15