Bathurst 1000: Whincup, Dumbrell take ultra-close victory

The timing of the final safety car period left all the leaders playing a cat-and-mouse game of fuel conservation heading towards the finish - alternately backing off and charging to try and make it to the end.

Whincup kept his Triple 8 Holden at the front throughout the tense denouement, securing the fourth Bathurst win of his career and extending his V8 Supercars points lead in the process.

Had Rod Nash/Ford Performance Racing driver Reynolds made it past Whincup in the car he shared with Dean Canto, the pair would have claimed their maiden V8 win in the series' greatest race.

Whincup and Dumbrell's team-mates Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff came home third. Both Triple Eight cars had dropped out of sequence with early tyre problems, but were able to get back among the lead pack when the next safety car came at the right time for them.

Lowndes was still hurt by having to queue behind the sister #1 car in the pits, so had to produce a late charge through the field to secure the podium finish.

His final victim was Holden Racing Team's James Courtney. The former champion was having his best run of a hugely disappointing season and was all over Whincup for a while in the closing stages before having to ease off - losing out to Lowndes with just two laps to go.

Courtney and co-driver Cameron McConville's 2011 Bathurst winning HRT team-mates Garth Tander and Nick Percat were out of contention early on after Percat hit the wall at the Dipper.

Michael Caruso and Greg Ritter completed the top five in a very competitive run for Garry Rogers' Holden team.

Reynolds' performance was the only consolation for FPR on a disastrous day for its lead cars.

Mark Winterbottom's title hopes faded as he and Steven Richards finished only 11th, hurt by a late tyre issue forcing a very early last stop.

Polesitter Will Davison and co-driver John McIntyre had a string of issues, including a pit procedure penalty, McIntyre being punted into a restart spin that left him last, a very slow pitstop, and finally a component breakage that sent Davison flying over the gravel at high speed late on.

Results - 161 laps:

Pos  Drivers                Team/Car                    Time/Gap
 1.  Whincup/Dumbrell       Triple 8 Holden        6h16m01.3304s
 2.  Reynolds/Canto         Rod Nash/FPR Ford          + 0.3129s
 3.  Lowndes/Luff           Triple 8 Holden            + 8.7885s
 4.  Courtney/McConville    HRT Holden                 + 9.5041s
 5.  Caruso/Ritter          Garry Rogers Holden       + 11.1028s
 6.  Webb/McLaughlin        Tekno Holden              + 18.1852s
 7.  Slade/Thompson         Rosenberg/SBR Ford        + 21.0434s
 8.  Holdsworth/Baird       Stone Brothers Ford       + 27.6754s
 9.  Ingall/Klien           Walkinshaw/HRT Holden     + 42.0565s
10.  Moffat/Davison         Dick Johnson Ford         + 44.7775s
11.  Winterbottom/Richards  FPR Ford                  + 54.9502s
12.  Van Gisbergen/Youlden  Stone Brothers Ford       + 57.2911s
13.  Murphy/Kelly           Kelly Holden            + 1m00.2811s
14.  Wall/Pither            Britek/BJR Holden       + 1m15.7062s
15.  Kelly/Russell          Kelly Holden            + 1m24.2523s
16.  Premat/Perkins         Garry Rogers Holden     + 1m34.3122s
17.  Johnson/Simonsen       Dick Johnson Ford       + 1m34.5334s
18.  Kelly/Blanchard        Kelly Holden            + 1m46.2692s
19.  Reindler/Gaunt         Kelly Holden            + 1m46.8905s
20.  Waters/Dixon           Kelly Holden                + 3 laps
21.  Bright/Jones           Brad Jones Holden           + 8 laps
22.  Fiore/Halliday         Triple F/DJR Ford          + 14 laps
23.  Coulthard/Besnard      Brad Jones Holden          + 14 laps
24.  Davison/McIntyre       FPR Ford                   + 18 laps
25.  Tander/Percat          HRT Holden                 + 22 laps

Retirements:

     D'Alberto/Wood         D'Alberto Ford              122 laps
     Douglas/Pye            Dumbrell Holden              97 laps
     Owen/Morris            Paul Morris/DJR Ford         53 laps
     Reid/Patrizi           Tekno Holden                 19 laps