FPR hold on to win thrilling Sandown

Bright and Winterbottom looked strong all race, taking the lead from the Toll HSV Dealer team of Rick and Todd Kelly on lap 138 of the 161 lap event.

The leading duo remained close together, with the last three laps seeing Bright driving as defensively as he could to take victory by 0.15 seconds. The Kelly performance was impressive considering they started outside the top ten.

After losing a lap during his first pit-stop, third place was a fantastic result for Triple Eight's Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup. Regaining the lap at three-quarter distance, an inspired final stint by Lowndes hauled the car up from seventh to third in just over 20 laps, the gap to the lead pair just too big to overcome.

Completing the top five were the Dick Johnson Ford of Will Davison and Steven Johnson, less than a second ahead of the Team BOC Falcon of John Bowe and Brad Jones, having taken the place from them with just three laps remaining.

There were problems for many of the fancied runners however. Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander and Mark Skaife seemed unbeatable before they struck trouble and finished 26th, a place ahead of Stone Brothers Racing' Russell Ingall and Luke Youlden who had brake problems.

One place further back was the Jack Daniels duo of Steven Richards and Paul Dumbrell whose car suffered from a variety of problems which took them out of contention very early on. The hard luck story of the day came from the Super Cheap garage, who started 24th, made it up to fourth by lap 62, only to suffer power steering dramas just after half-distance to eventually finish 29th.

The star rookie of Saturday, Ryan Briscoe, lost a lap at the start when co-driver Jim Richards got caught up in contact, the duo unable to recover with an incident or two more along the way to finish in 21st.

The race saw a relatively calm start, Whincup showing the way for the first 14 laps as pole-sitter Tander recovered from a poor start. But Tander steadily worked his way back to take the lead on lap 15, as the Holden Racing Team Commodore showed its qualifying pace was no flash in the pan.

A safety car saw most of the field pit on lap 51, with the Triple Eight duo among the few cars not to take advantage. When they pitted less than ten laps later, both Triple Eight cars went a lap down as Tander continued to dominate ahead of Winterbottom and Kelly. A second safety car just before lap 90 closed the gaps but only the Ford Performance Racing car of Bright and Winterbottom chose to pit.

Pit stops for the leaders just before two-thirds distance saw little change to the order, Bright temporarily taking the lead but knowing he still had a stop to make.

A third safety car just before three-quarters distance proved to be decisive. Bright made his stop, only dropping to third behind Skaife and Kelly. Lowndes got back on the lead lap and made his final stop as well.

The race was now set-up for the finish, no more stops required - unless threatening weather intervened. But still the HRT car of Skaife and Tander was odds-on favourite for the win, no-one able to keep up with the men in red.

The race resumed on lap 121. With the race seemingly in his pocket, leader Skaife understeered off the track at turn four, a failure in the front suspension the cause. Now Kelly led from Bright, a battle which raged to the finish, resolving in Bright's favour (but only just!)

With another important race in Bathurst coming up next, the points have changed once more. Lowndes continues to lead, with a 27 point margin over Rick Kelly. 208 points further back is Mark Winterbottom who leaps up to third, with Garth Tander 135 points behind Winterbottom, and 370 behind Lowndes.

But Bathurst provides another 320 point opportunity for everyone, and each driver will have to drop their worst round after it, so the championship is still up for grabs.

Pos  Drivers                              Car
 1.  Jason Bright/Mark Winterbottom       Ford Falcon BA
 2.  Rick Kelly/Todd Kelly                Holden Commodore VZ
 3.  Craig Lowndes/Jamie Whincup          Ford Falcon BA
 4.  Will Davison/Steven Johnson          Ford Falcon BA
 5.  John Bowe/Brad Jones                 Ford Falcon BA
 6.  Dean Canto/Lee Holdsworth            Holden Commodore VZ
 7.  Craig Baird/Jason Bargwanna          Ford Falcon BA
 8.  Steven Ellery/Paul Morris            Holden Commodore VZ
 9.  James Courtney/Glenn Seton           Ford Falcon BA
10.  Nathan Pretty/Paul Weel              Holden Commodore VZ
11.  David Besnard/Max Wilson             Ford Falcon BA
12.  Tony Longhurst/Steve Owen            Holden Commodore VZ
13.  Alex Davison/Grant Denyer            Ford Falcon BA
14.  Fabian Coulthard/Paul Radisich       Holden Commodore VZ
15.  Matt Halliday/Cameron McLean         Ford Falcon BA
16.  Tony D'Alberto/Anthony Tratt         Holden Commodore VZ
17.  Richard Lyons/Allan Simonsen         Ford Falcon BA
18.  Dale Brede/Mark Porter               Ford Falcon BA
19.  Alan Gurr/Kayne Scott                Holden Commodore VZ
20.  Greg Ritter/Philip Scifleet          Holden Commodore VZ
21.  Ryan Briscoe/Jim Richards            Holden Commodore VZ
22.  Jose Fernandez/Tony Ricciardello     Ford Falcon BA
23.  Warren Luff/Adam Macrow              Ford Falcon BA
24.  Jack Perkins/Steve Price             Holden Commodore VZ
25.  Marcus Marshall/Jonathon Webb        Ford Falcon BA
26.  Mark Skaife/Garth Tander             Holden Commodore VZ
27.  Russell Ingall/Luke Youlden          Ford Falcon BA
28.  Paul Dumbrell/Steven Richards        Holden Commodore VZ
29.  Cameron McConville/Greg Murphy       Holden Commodore VZ
30.  Andrew Jones/Jason Richards          Holden Commodore VZ
DNF  Owen Kelly/Mark Noske                Holden Commodore VZ