Lowndes, Skaife win Phillip Island 500

Lowndes and Skaife hung around the front of the field throughout the race, with Lowndes capitalising in the last stint to close on leader and team-mate Jamie Whincup in the car he was sharing with Steve Owen.

After several laps of close racing, lap 92 saw Lowndes take the lead when Whincup ran wide after locking a front brake, possibly as a result of light damage to his front splitter.

Lowndes continued on to take victory with one of his team-mates from his Holden Racing Team days, Mark Skaife, with Mark Winterbottom and Luke Youlden taking second place after passing Jason Richards and Andrew Jones's Team BOC car with five laps remaining in the 113 lap event.

Rick Kelly and Owen Kelly showed early speed, leading the opening segment of the race before just slightly dropping off the pace and finished fourth, with Tim Slade and Jack Perkins completing the top five after keeping out of trouble all day.

The fortunes of the two championship contenders fluctuated throughout the day, both ending worse than they started. Whincup's team-mate Owen ran second in the early going, taking over the lead in the middle of the second stint, Whincup following suit in the lead in the next stint.

But a couple of safety cars did not help, and then in the final stint Whincup struggled for speed, possibly a result of the damaged splitter - or what ended his hopes of decent finish, when smoke began to pour from his car just after losing the lead.

Blackflagged, his car was put into the garage for repairs. He returned, but he was nine laps down and last car running in 29th place, the third year in a row Whincup's hopes of victory in the event have disappeared in the closing stages of the race.

It all came as good news for James Courtney, who flat-spotted a tyre in the middle of the race while running sixth, forcing an extra stop for tyres. An off in the closing laps then saw him fall from seventh to 10th, and lose another two places by the finish.

Despite this, Courtney extended his lead in the championship by 59 points to 179 points over Whincup, having looked set to see most of his lead wiped out with 20 laps remaining in the race.

Pos  Drivers                             Make     Time
 1.  Craig Lowndes/Mark Skaife           Holden   3h11m47.3551s
 2.  Mark Winterbottom/Luke Youlden      Ford     +     3.2870s
 3.  Jason Richards/Andrew Jones         Holden   +     5.0157s
 4.  Rick Kelly/Owen Kelly               Holden   +     5.6937s
 5.  Tim Slade/Jack Perkins              Ford     +    19.7154s
 6.  Jonathon Webb/David Russell         Ford     +    28.4812s
 7.  Paul Dumbrell/Dean Canto            Ford     +    29.9485s
 8.  Russell Ingall/Paul Morris          Holden   +    30.0940s
 9.  Garth Tander/Cameron McConville     Holden   +    31.4981s
10.  Alex Davison/David Brabham          Ford     +    35.6968s
11.  Michael Caruso/Greg Ritter          Holden   +    38.1971s
12.  James Courtney/Warren Luff          Ford     +    39.1294s
13.  Greg Murphy/Tim Blanchard           Holden   +    39.4895s
14.  Dean Fiore/Michael Patrizi          Ford     +    40.8356s
15.  Tony D'Alberto/Shane Price          Holden   +    41.5593s
16.  Steven Johnson/Marcus Marshall      Ford     +    41.9244s
17.  Karl Reindler/David Wall            Holden   +    51.1301s
18.  Todd Kelly/Dale Wood                Holden   +    53.0749s
19.  Fabian Coulthard/Craig Baird        Holden   +    53.6839s
20.  Jason Bargwanna/Glenn Seton         Holden   +  1m25.0449s
21.  Steven Richards/James Moffat        Ford     +      1 lap
22.  Damian Assaillit/Ant Pedersen       Ford     +      1 lap
23.  Geoff Emery/Marcus Zukanovic        Holden   +      1 lap
24.  Mark Noske/Nathan Pretty            Holden   +      1 lap
25.  Tony Ricciardello/Taz Douglas       Holden   +      1 lap
26.  Andrew Thompson/Nick Percat         Holden   +      2 laps
27.  Shane van Gisbergen/John McIntyre   Ford     +      3 laps
28.  Will Davison/David Reynolds         Holden   +      4 laps
29.  Jamie Whincup/Steve Owen            Holden   +      9 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Drivers                             Make     Laps
     Lee Holdsworth/David Besnard        Holden    68
     Jason Bright/Matt Halliday          Holden    55