Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife take another Phillip Island 500k victory

Lowndes looked set to come under pressure from the flying Shane van Gisbergen in the closing stages as the Stone Brothers Ford kept its tyres in better shape than the leaders and mounted a late charge. But when van Gisbergen's handling went off with six laps to go, he slowed dramatically.

That allowed Whincup to pounce. The points leader and partner Andrew Thompson had led much of the middle of the race before two minor pit delays - the first due to a sticking door damaged in contact with Skaife earlier on, and the second when both Triple Eight cars had to pit at the same time under yellow and the #88 had to queue behind the leading #888.

Whincup got past van Gisbergen with a lap and a half to go to complete another Triple Eight one-two.

Polesitters Will Davison and Luke Youlden led the early laps and came home third for Ford Performance Racing, with Davison passing van Gisbergen moments after Whincup had.

Garth Tander and co-driver Nick Percat produced a stirring charge through the field after their Holden Racing Team car lost its front row start due to a pre-race gear problem. Percat flew up the order during his stints and Tander was in position to battle with Lowndes for the lead at the final restart.

Lowndes held on after some spectacular side-by-side racing, and Tander eventually drifted away, losing fourth to Davison with an error a few laps from the finish, but then reclaiming it by overtaking the fading van Gisbergen on the run to the line.

David Reynolds and Tim Blanchard were sixth in the best of Kelly Racing's Holdens, with Jason Bright and Andrew Jones (Brad Jones Racing) coming through from 22nd on the grid to seventh despite a penalty for contact.

Results - 113 laps:

Pos  Drivers                 Team/Car                    Time/Gap
 1.  Lowndes/Skaife          Triple 8 Holden        3h08m13.2041s
 2.  Whincup/Thompson        Triple 8 Holden            + 6.3205s
 3.  Davison/Youlden         FPR Ford                   + 9.2131s
 4.  Tander/Percat           HRT Holden                + 15.6235s
 5.  van Gisbergen/McIntyre  Stone Brothers Ford       + 15.6250s
 6.  Reynolds/Blanchard      Kelly Holden              + 19.5440s
 7.  Bright/Jones            Brad Jones Holden         + 27.3750s
 8.  Kelly/Kelly             Kelly Holden              + 32.3485s
 9.  Courtney/McConville     HRT Holden                + 34.6131s
10.  Coulthard/Baird         Walkinshaw Holden         + 40.9545s
11.  Bargwanna/Price         Brad Jones Holden         + 49.6775s
12.  Holdsworth/Ritter       Garry Rogers Holden       + 52.2947s
13.  Murphy/Simonsen         Kelly Holden            + 1m02.6083s
14.  Kelly/Russell           Kelly Holden            + 1m07.3800s
15.  Owen/Morris             Paul Morris Holden      + 1m07.5959s
16.  Caruso/Marshall         Garry Rogers Holden     + 1m14.1465s
17.  Winterbottom/Richards   FPR Ford                + 1m17.6851s
18.  Webb/Lyons              Tekno Ford              + 1m19.6768s
19.  Fiore/Patrizi           Triple F Ford           + 1m22.0884s
20.  Ingall/Perkins          Paul Morris Holden      + 1m24.5901s
21.  Wood/Douglas            D'Alberto Ford          + 1m24.7762s
22.  Davison/Brabham         Stone Brothers Ford     + 1m27.7304s
23.  Dumbrell/Canto          Rod Nash/FPR Ford       + 1m30.2555s
24.  Slade/Gaunt             Rosenberg/SBR Ford      + 1m30.4833s
25.  Moffat/Halliday         Dick Johnson Ford       + 1m33.2940s
26.  Johnson/Besnard         Dick Johnson Ford            + 1 lap
27.  Luff/Pretty             Lucas Dumbrell Holden       + 2 laps
28.  Reindler/Wall           Britek/BJR Holden          + 13 laps