Whincup leads Triple 8 one-two

The polesitter held the edge throughout the 50-lap event, but came under pressure from his team-mate Craig Lowndes in the second half of the race.

Lowndes had run fourth behind Will Davison (Ford Performance Racing) and Steven Johnson (Dick Johnson Ford) in the opening stages, before opting to make his pitstop on lap 14 and change just two tyres.

Whincup stayed out at the head of the field until lap 28, changing four tyres when he came in - and emerged only just ahead of Lowndes, who had been making up ground in the meantime.

The two Triple Eight cars ran nose to tail for the rest of the distance, but Whincup had enough in hand to clinch victory.

Davison eventually finished 6.7 seconds behind the leaders to complete the podium.

After only qualifying 16th, Stone Brothers Ford driver Shane van Gisbergen produced a charging race to come through to fourth ahead of Johnson, Jason Bright (Brad Jones Holden) and Karl Reindler, as the latter backed up his qualifying breakthrough to take a career-best seventh.

Mark Winterbottom (FPR) beat Rick Kelly (Kelly Holden) and reigning champion James Courtney to eighth in a tough late battle, while Courtney's Holden Racing Team-mate Garth Tander managed to claw his way up to 13th after only qualifying 23rd.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                  Time/Gap
 1.  Jamie Whincup        Triple 8 Holden        49m38.6955s
 2.  Craig Lowndes        Triple 8 Holden          + 0.9041s
 3.  Will Davison         FPR Ford                 + 6.7397s
 4.  Shane van Gisbergen  Stone Brothers Ford      + 8.1306s
 5.  Steven Johnson       Dick Johnson Ford       + 11.1240s
 6.  Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden       + 14.8305s
 7.  Karl Reindler        Birtek Holden           + 17.6138s
 8.  Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford                + 21.1226s
 9.  Rick Kelly           Kelly Holden            + 21.9802s
10.  James Courtney       HRT Holden              + 22.3162s
11.  Jason Bargwanna      Brad Jones Holden       + 30.6765s
12.  Michael Caruso       Garry Rodgers Holden    + 32.3514s
13.  Garth Tander         HRT Holden              + 32.7136s
14.  Russell Ingall       Paul Morris Holden      + 33.1191s
15.  Greg Murphy          Kelly Holden            + 33.3054s
16.  Lee Holdsworth       Garry Rodgers Holden    + 34.1442s
17.  Steve Owen           Paul Morris Holden      + 34.3813s
18.  James Moffat         Dick Johnson Ford       + 34.5738s
19.  David Reynolds       Kelly Holden            + 35.8248s
20.  Jonathon Webb        Tekno Ford              + 36.5063s
21.  Alex Davison         Stone Brothers Ford     + 40.2178s
22.  Tim Slade            Stone Brothers Ford     + 40.4429s
23.  Fabian Coulthard     Walkinshaw Holden       + 40.8537s
24.  Dean Fiore           Triple F Ford           + 50.6872s
25.  Tony D'Alberto       D'Alberto Holden        + 54.8532s
26.  Warren Luff          Lucas Dumbrell Holden      + 1 lap
27.  Todd Kelly           Kelly Holden               + 1 lap

Retirements:

     Paul Dumbrell        Rod Nash Ford              40 laps