Courtney comfortably wins race two

Courtney moved from sixth to third in the first 10 laps, taking second place from Craig Lowndes on lap 20. But by pitting two laps later for his first pitstop, he lost places to Lowndes and Lee Holdsworth. He soon passed Holdsworth but was still running second as they headed towards the finish.

The duo made contact when Courtney made his first attempt to take the lead on lap 53, sending Lowndes temporarily off track. Four laps later he made a clean move two corners further around the track, opening a gap of six seconds in eight laps in a race shortened by three laps due to a time limit.

Lowndes ran up front all race to take second, while third was Lee Holdsworth, gaining nearly ten places by pitting early and then a safety car period just after half-distance not hurting his chances either.

After starting on pole, Rick Kelly finished fourth, a place he had drifted back to after the first ten laps and stayed there for much of the rest of the race. Holdsworth's team-mate Michael Caruso was next followed by Mark Winterbottom.

A couple of surprise finishers inside the top ten were Tim Slade in seventh and Tony D'Alberto in ninth sandwiching former series champion Garth Tander, with Slade and D'Alberto following up well after strong performances in race one as well.

But the big news of the race was the demise of Jamie Whincup. Whincup was one of the last to pit for his first pitstop, and although he'd led all the race up to that point, by staying out he gave up ground to his rivals, resuming in eighth place.

Some of this ground he hoped to make up with a quicker final pitstop, but this went out the window when the safety car came out not long after half-distance. Fighting to regain lost ground after the restart, he went off into the gravel at turn four, possibly as the result of light contact he'd made while trying to pass another car.

Two laps were lost in the process of being recovered, and with it went any hopes of a decent finish, ending the race in 24th place, second last.

The last two events have seen a remarkable change in fortunes for Whincup. A 204 point lead over Courtney before the event at Queensland Raceway is now a 114 point deficit to new series leader Courtney after Winton, a turnaround equivalent to more than two race wins.

Whincup's team-mate Craig Lowndes is another beneficiary, moving to 222 points behind Courtney and 108 behind Whincup, having gained 243 points on his team-mate in those same two events.

Pos  Driver                Make                  Time
 1.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        1:37:31.2546s 
 2.  Craig Lowndes         Holden Commodore VE   +     5.8512s  
 3.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE   +     7.8623s  
 4.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +     8.2908s  
 5.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE   +    10.9253s 
 6.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG        +    13.3963s 
 7.  Tim Slade             Ford Falcon FG        +    15.0489s 
 8.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE   +    15.5144s 
 9.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE   +    15.8486s 
10.  Paul Dumbrell         Ford Falcon FG        +    18.8907s 
11.  Jonathon Webb         Ford Falcon FG        +    21.7009s 
12.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        +    23.2667s 
13.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE   +    23.3718s 
14.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG        +    24.0608s 
15.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE   +    24.4492s 
16.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE   +    24.9889s 
17.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        +    25.3477s 
18.  Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE   +    38.3694s 
19.  Daniel Gaunt          Holden Commodore VE   +    48.3805s 
20.  Tony Ricciardello     Holden Commodore VE   +    49.9054s 
21.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        +  1:10.3997s 
22.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +  1:14.7018s 
23.  Karl Reindler         Holden Commodore VE   +      1 lap
24.  Jamie Whincup         Holden Commodore VE   +      2 laps
25.  Andrew Thompson       Holden Commodore VE   +     12 laps

Not classified/retirements:                          
                                                     
     Driver                Make                  Laps
     Jason Bright          Holden Commodore VE    52 
     Dean Fiore            Ford Falcon FG         39 
     Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE    36 
     Fabian Coulthard      Holden Commodore VE    34