Courtney dominates Winton race one
Jim Beam Racing's James Courtney made it three wins in a row after another dominant victory, taking the first race at Winton Motor Raceway in comfortable style
Courtney lost the lead at the start to Garth Tander but after a slow pitstop for the HRT driver, his only major drama for the rest of the race came when Jamie Whincup exited the pits the next lap around.
The two went through the first two turns ducking and diving, Whincup on cold tyres trying to defend from the up-to-speed Courtney, but in the end Courtney drove around the outside to take the position and was never under serious threat from then on, and is now just three points off the championship lead.
Second was taken by Craig Lowndes, which would have been a surprise after being the second-last car to pit on lap 20 of 40 and dropping to 14th. But his fresher tyres proved to be a huge advantage in the second half of the race, picking off drivers at will.
In just eleven laps from lap 21 to 32 he moved from 14th place to second. He then closed on Courtney at the end but was still four seconds away at the finish.
His team-mate Jamie Whincup was next, despite losing the two places he gained at the start following contact from Steven Richards into turn one. He quickly moved up to third after passing some fast cars, moving up to second after Tander's tardy pitstop.
He then spent most of the second half of the race fending off Courtney's team-mate Steven Johnson, who moved up from seventh before the stops, before Lowndes zipped past both of them with less than ten laps to go.
Shane van Gisbergen was next in fifth place, pulling off a Lowndes-like charge to move from 13th early in the race and then 19th on lap 20 just after his pitstop to take 14 positions away in 20 laps.
In the closing laps he made his way through an angry pack, which began with just Todd Kelly, the delayed Garth Tander and Michael Caruso, but got bigger as the race went on as the two FPR cars faded and other cars behind caught up.
Fifth and sixth with eight laps to go, the two FPR cars of Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards ended up 15th and 14th, Winterbottom set for a top ten result until he made contact while defending against a charging Jonathon Webb on the final lap, Winterbottom losing seven places, Webb dropping to 26th.
Another pair of team-mates were big losers with just over a lap remaining. As Webb dived inside Holden Racing Team's Will Davison at the second-last corner on the second-last lap, team-mate Garth Tander, who had been passed by Davison on the previous lap, dived for the gap Webb's pass had opened.
However, the two made contact, with both cars sent into a spin. They started the final lap in 17th and 19th respectively for Davison and Tander but other dramas on the final lap saw Tander finish 17th with Davison dropping down to 22nd.
Pos Driver Make Time 1. James Courtney Ford Falcon FG 57:49.1567s 2. Craig Lowndes Holden Commodore VE + 3.8028s 3. Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore VE + 16.4431s 4. Steven Johnson Ford Falcon FG + 17.5864s 5. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford Falcon FG + 20.3313s 6. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VE + 34.0635s 7. Jason Bright Holden Commodore VE + 35.7396s 8. Michael Caruso Holden Commodore VE + 38.0468s 9. Tony D'Alberto Holden Commodore VE + 38.7479s 10. Lee Holdsworth Holden Commodore VE + 39.4962s 11. Russell Ingall Holden Commodore VE + 40.8585s 12. Tim Slade Ford Falcon FG + 42.7408s 13. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VE + 44.0308s 14. Steven Richards Ford Falcon FG + 44.3937s 15. Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon FG + 45.3787s 16. Alex Davison Ford Falcon FG + 48.2922s 17. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VE + 50.8072s 18. Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VE + 51.0292s 19. Jason Richards Holden Commodore VE + 51.4343s 20. Fabian Coulthard Holden Commodore VE + 51.8741s 21. Karl Reindler Holden Commodore VE + 52.4142s 22. Will Davison Holden Commodore VE + 59.9937s 23. Jason Bargwanna Holden Commodore VE +1m04.3158s 24. Dean Fiore Ford Falcon FG +1m04.3815s 25. Daniel Gaunt Holden Commodore VE +1m08.2855s 26. Jonathon Webb Ford Falcon FG +1m12.4127s 27. Tony Ricciardello Holden Commodore VE +1m12.9697s 28. Paul Dumbrell Ford Falcon FG +1m27.9809s Not classified/retirements: Driver Make Laps Andrew Thompson Holden Commodore VE 1
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