Jamie Whincup battles to Townsville V8 Supercars win

The reigning champion only made quiet progress in the opening stint, as polesitter David Reynolds in the Rod Nash/Ford Performance Racing car fended off FPR's Mark Winterbottom at the front.

By the middle of the race, FPR trio Reynolds, Winterbottom and Will Davison were leading Lowndes and Whincup in a tense five-car train. Whincup was able to slip past Lowndes when his team-mate accidentally triggered the pitlane speed limiter, and then got involved in a place-swapping dice with Davison.

The final pitstops proved critical. Lowndes jumped Winterbottom as both stopped on lap 42. Then one lap later Reynolds, Whincup and Davison came in as one, with Triple Eight vaulting Whincup to the head of the pack as he rejoined just in front of Lowndes and Davison, with Winterbottom and Reynolds falling to fourth and fifth.

The Triple Eight duo then pulled clear, and with no team orders, Lowndes made concerted efforts to grab the lead. Twice he managed to get ahead only for Whincup to repass on the corner exit. The final 1.8-second victory margin was the biggest the gap had been for many laps.

Davison held third, while a charge after a late safety car period took Garth Tander (Holden Racing Team) past Reynolds and Winterbottom into fourth.

Tekno's Jonathon Webb and Tander's team-mate James Courtney were the only two to run soft tyres in the first stint and led, but fell back to eighth and 15th respectively. Shane van Gisbergen charged up from 18th to seventh for Stone Brothers.

Jacques Villeneuve made the finish this time for Kelly Racing, a lap down in 24th.

Results - 72 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                  Time/Gap
 1.  Jamie Whincup        Triple 8 Holden      1h33m49.2414s
 2.  Craig Lowndes        Triple 8 Holden          + 1.8437s
 3.  Will Davison         FPR Ford                 + 5.3649s
 4.  Garth Tander         HRT Holden               + 6.9946s
 5.  Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford                 + 8.1286s
 6.  David Reynolds       Rod Nash/FPR Ford        + 8.4670s
 7.  Shane van Gisbergen  Stone Brothers Ford     + 11.4034s
 8.  Jonathon Webb        Tekno Holden            + 12.5865s
 9.  Michael Patrizi      Tekno Holden            + 13.2060s
10.  Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden       + 13.5266s
11.  Steve Owen           Dick Johnson Ford       + 14.3787s
12.  Tim Slade            Rosenberg/SBR Ford      + 14.6334s
13.  Steven Johnson       Dick Johnson Ford       + 15.6934s
14.  Tony D'Alberto       D'Alberto Ford          + 16.0879s
15.  James Courtney       HRT Holden              + 20.2601s
16.  Alexandre Premat     Garry Rogers Holden     + 20.6962s
17.  Taz Douglas          Dumbrell Holden         + 21.5998s
18.  Dean Fiore           Triple F Ford           + 22.0601s
19.  David Wall           Britek/BJR Holden       + 22.9822s
20.  Rick Kelly           Kelly Holden            + 24.2475s
21.  Todd Kelly           Kelly Holden            + 25.0567s
22.  Karl Reindler        Kelly Holden            + 26.4256s
23.  James Moffat         Dick Johnson Ford       + 26.8380s
24.  Jacques Villeneuve   Kelly Holden               + 1 lap
25.  Michael Caruso       Garry Rogers Holden       + 6 laps
26.  Lee Holdsworth       Stone Brothers Ford      + 10 laps

Retirements:

     Fabian Coulthard     Brad Jones Holden          44 laps
     Russell Ingall       Walkinshaw Holden           7 laps