Craig Lowndes victorious in Queensland V8 Supercars race one

The former champion had earlier assisted his Triple Eight crew in performing a rapid engine change on his Holden following practice, then went on to take pole position.

Lowndes held the lead at the start and then kept Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom at a safe distance throughout to secure his second win of the year.

Championship leader Jamie Whincup lost a lot of ground with a clutch problem at the start, then made an early pitstop and switch to soft tyres. That strategy did not get him back into the lead battle but did bring him through to third place in the second Triple Eight car.

Whincup finished just ahead of Fabian Coulthard and Russell Ingall as they claimed season-best results in fourth and fifth.

Title contender Will Davison (FPR) also ran an early-stop strategy but had to settle for sixth.

Results - 45 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                 Time/Gap
 1.  Craig Lowndes        Triple 8 Holden       54m57.5057s
 2.  Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford                + 1.7195s
 3.  Jamie Whincup        Triple 8 Holden         + 9.3808s
 4.  Fabian Coulthard     Brad Jones Holden      + 11.7625s
 5.  Russell Ingall       Walkinshaw Holden      + 16.7409s
 6.  Will Davison         FPR Ford               + 17.2574s
 7.  Shane van Gisbergen  Stone Brothers Ford    + 28.1550s
 8.  Michael Caruso       Garry Rogers Holden    + 33.3410s
 9.  Tim Slade            Rosenberg/SBR Ford     + 37.6012s
10.  Steven Johnson       Dick Johnson Ford      + 37.6473s
11.  Dean Fiore           Triple F Ford          + 38.7749s
12.  Rick Kelly           Kelly Holden           + 39.1884s
13.  Todd Kelly           Kelly Holden           + 43.2342s
14.  Karl Reindler        Kelly Holden           + 43.6254s
15.  James Courtney       HRT Holden             + 45.5176s
16.  Steve Owen           Dick Johnson Ford      + 47.4832s
17.  Michael Patrizi      Tekno Holden           + 53.9232s
18.  James Moffat         Dick Johnson Ford      + 56.1401s
19.  Alexandre Premat     Garry Rogers Holden    + 57.7828s
20.  Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden      + 58.6279s
21.  David Wall           Britek/BJR Holden      + 59.6638s
22.  David Reynolds       Rod Nash/FPR Ford    + 1m04.4913s
23.  Taz Douglas          Dumbrell Holden           + 1 lap
24.  Jacques Villeneuve   Kelly Holden              + 1 lap
25.  Tony D'Alberto       D'Alberto Ford            + 1 lap
26.  Lee Holdsworth       Stone Brothers Ford       + 1 lap
27.  Garth Tander         HRT Holden               + 5 laps

Retirements:

     Jonathon Webb        Tekno Holden              35 laps