Lowndes, Whincup win Bathurst again

The duo ran up front all day to take a hard-fought win, the first time drivers have won three Bathursts in a row since Peter Brock and Larry Perkins did so in 1982, 1983 and 1984 (with John Harvey sharing in the 1983 win).

The win also pushed Jamie Whincup into the championship lead, with a 33 point advantage over fourth-placed finisher Mark Winterbottom and a further 49 points back to polesitter Garth Tander, whose car struck trouble mid-race.

Joining Lowndes and Whincup after a tough race were Greg Murphy and Jason Richards in their Sprint Gas Commodore, with third taken by James Courtney and David Besnard in their Jeld-Wen Motorsport Falcon.

Completing the top five were Ford Performance Racing's Steven Richards and Mark Winterbottom, and WOW Racing's Brad Jones and Max Wilson, both Jones and Wilson currently part-time drivers in the series.

It was a race that started off cleanly, but then became affected by a series of tyre dramas, and eight safety car periods in the last 90 laps of the race after none in the first 70, including three in ten laps near the end of the race.

The start of the race almost saw a repeat of 2006, with the Holden Racing Team car on pole again suffering clutch problems. Thankfully, everyone avoided Tander, but a small movement before the lights went out meant Tander had to take a penalty at his first pit stop.

However, the opening lap wasn't without incident, with contact between Craig Lowndes and Greg Murphy into Griffin's Bend after they were three-wide coming up Mountain Straight, Murphy suffering damage to the steering in the incident but able to continue.

A flying James Courtney quickly took the lead on lap 4 from Steven Richards, who soon began to struggle, Courtney pulling away from the field, leading by ten seconds as the first pit stops arrived.

After the first round of stops Whincup took over the lead as Besnard began to struggle, while soon after the first of a number of tyre problems for many runners began, Will Davison forced to pit early.

The race ran green through a round of pit stops before the first of eight safety cars made an appearance on lap 74 when Todd Kelly spun at the Chase, some of the leaders taking advantage to make a pit stop losing little or no ground.

Two safety cars on lap 90 and then again on lap 92 saw a shuffling of the order, as the Lowndes/Whincup and Winterbottom/Richards car both pitted, while most of the field stayed out.

This handed over the lead to Will Davison and Steven Johnson in their Jim Beam Falcon, with Winterbottom/Richards 14th and Lowndes/Whincup 15th.

The day of the car that started on pole turned sour soon after, Mark Skaife running off at turn one before clouting the wall at Forrest's Elbow on lap 103, damaging the front of his car, ending any hopes of a win.

Another car in the sand brought out the safety car on lap 106, and with cars pitting just before and during it, the lead returned to Team Vodafone, but with a slightly jumbled order behind him, Adam Macrow and Jason Bright second with the second Holden Racing Team car of Craig Baird and Glenn Seton in third.

After restarting fourth on lap 108, Mark Winterbottom was soon up to third after passing Seton and then Macrow pitting on lap 115. But another safety car wasn't far away, coming out on lap 128, (just) about the right time to pit to make it to the end without stopping again.

Almost the whole field pitted, with the major exception being the Jeld-Wen Motorsport car of James Courtney and David Besnard, which took over the lead, with Lowndes next ahead of Steven Richards and Greg Murphy.

Lap 135 saw the demise of Supercheap's Russell Ingall and Paul Morris, steering issues forcing them to park the car after running up front throughout the race. Two laps later and Courtney made his last stop of the day, dropping to 13th.

Three safety cars in the next ten laps made sure it would be a close run to the flag, Murphy all but taking second place from Richards during those laps, while contact between Warren Luff and Craig Baird cost both drivers a top-five finish, and set up the run to the flag.

Twelve laps to go in the 161-lap race, and the race went green for the final time, Lowndes leading from Steven Richards, Murphy, Max Wilson and Courtney. Lowndes edged away at the front as the group behind fought over second through fifth.

Lap 154 saw Courtney take fourth from Wilson, and chase down Richards and Murphy who had escaped while they'd diced for fourth. Murphy's pressure over the closing laps finally paid off when he grabbed second place on lap 158.

With three laps remaining however, the car of Lowndes and Whincup was too far away to be caught as it took victory, Murphy and Jason Richards in second, with Courtney taking the final podium place from Steven Richards at the start of the second-last lap.

Pos  Drivers                   Make     Time
 1.  Lowndes/Whincup           Ford     6:26:00.4291
 2.  Murphy/J Richards         Holden   +     2.4978
 3.  Besnard/Courtney          Ford     +     4.5824
 4.  Richards/Winterbottom     Ford     +     5.1888
 5.  B Jones/Wilson            Holden   +    10.3239
 6.  W Davison/Johnson         Ford     +    10.9588
 7.  Canto/Youlden             Ford     +    21.6530
 8.  Perkins/Pretty            Holden   +    30.8391
 9.  Bright/Macrow             Ford     +    32.6680
10.  Coulthard/A Davison       Ford     +    54.8277
11.  Luff/Owen                 Ford     +  1:44.3574
12.  Skaife/Tander             Holden   +     1 lap
13.  Noske/Wood                Holden   +     1 lap
14.  Halliday/Marshall         Ford     +     1 lap
15.  Giovanardi/Hynes          Ford     +     2 laps
16.  Ellery/Ritter             Holden   +     4 laps
17.  T Kelly/Price             Holden   +     4 laps
18.  Ingall/Morris             Holden   +     5 laps
19.  Patrizi/Reindler          Ford     +     5 laps
20.  Dumbrell/R Kelly          Holden   +    34 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Drivers                   Make     Laps
     Bargwanna/D'Alberto       Holden    159
     Baird/Seton               Holden    146
     Neal/Said                 Holden    140
     Caruso/Holdsworth         Holden    139
     van Gisbergen/Webb        Ford       91
     A Jones/McConville        Holden     40
     Scott/Pither              Ford        8