Phillip Island Supercars: Coulthard beats McLaughlin in Penske 1-2

A slow first stop for McLaughlin proved to be the difference between the two Penske Ford Mustangs, with Coulthard taking over the lead for the second stint and never letting it go.

The win is Coulthard's first since the Sunday race at Winton last May, and restores the 124-point gap between the two Penske drivers in the standings.

The two Fords were untroubled off the line, McLaughlin quickly bolting to a 1.5s lead over Coulthard.

Thanks to new pitlane closure rules that are on trial this weekend, the first stint was over in the blink of an eye. McLaughlin pitted from the lead on lap five of 45, with the rest of the frontrunners coming on over the next four laps.

The stops shook the order up, with Tickford Ford drivers Chaz Mostert and Cam Waters ending up first and second on corrected order thanks to short fuelling. Mostert didn't even bother taking on new rubber during his lap seven stop, sticking with the same tyres he started the race with.

McLaughlin dropped all the way back to fifth in the effective order, with de Pasquale and Coulthard also jumping the reigning champion.

That the two Penske cars were reversed was somewhat unexpected, given that Coulthard took on slightly more fuel than McLaughlin.

By the 15-lap mark, with Mostert three seconds down the road, the battle for second was well and truly on between Waters, de Pasquale, and the two Penske Mustangs.

McLaughlin was first to pit for a second time on lap 16, and though de Pasquale again got out ahead of the championship leader, a mistake midway through Southern Loop on lap 21 was all it took for McLaughlin to restore the effective Penske one-two.

There was little to choose between Coulthard and McLaughlin for the rest of the race, the gap consistently hanging around the 1s mark before closing down to six tenths at the finish.

Despite a sensor issue causing some fuel consumption concerns, de Pasquale was a comfortable third, 4s behind Coulthard and 1.7s in front of Will Davison.

It was second-year driver de Pasquale's first podium finish, coming a week after a bizarre bolt blunder cost him a career-best result in Tasmania.

Davison led a Tickford trio in positions four to six, Mostert ahead of Waters, while Shane van Gisbergen came home best of the Triple Eight Holdens in seventh.

Rick Kelly won out in a fierce battle for eighth, which included a hard-charging effort from Tim Slade, who rolled the dice on a long middle stint and had the best tyre life in the closing stages.

The BJR driver couldn't quite nab that eighth place, though, settling for ninth after being made to work hard to pass first David Reynolds, and then team-mate Nick Percat.

Jamie Whincup had a very quiet day, finishing up 12th behind Reynolds.

James Courtney had a shocker of a race, started by clumsy contact with Todd Hazelwood on lap one as the pair battled over seventh place.

That earned the 2010 champion a 15s penalty, insult then added to that injury with a high-speed off at Turn 1 on lap 13 thanks to a front-right puncture.

There was then a second right-front puncture 10 laps from home and Courtney finished up last, two laps behind the winner.

Hazelwood recovered to 16th after his involuntarily trip through the gravel thanks to that first-lap Courtney contact.

Race two result

Drivers' standings