Lowndes wins race 3
Craig Lowndes continued his championship revival as he won the third V8 Supercar race at Surfers Paradise, winning the round overall along the way
Lowndes took another start-to-finish win to make it two wins and a second in the three races. Mark Skaife and Greg Murphy were close behind to complete the podium in race three, and finished third and second overall respectively.
Ingall, who had been having a great weekend until after race two, then had a nightmare in race three. After aborting an entry to pit lane on lap six to avoid hitting the back of Steve Ellery, costing him several places, he pitted next lap around, only to miss the second chicane on his out lap as he experienced brake problems.
Then to add insult to injury, Ingall was given a drive-through penalty for clipping the yellow line on the lap he aborted his pit entry, stewards apparently preferring he had run into the back of Ellery than abort and lose track position. Ingall finished the race in 24th position.
Ironically Marcos Ambrose's bad weekend finally had a good turn, as he charged through the field to finish eleventh.
What this means is the championship has compressed once more. Ingall still leads, but a pack of four sit within reach. Ambrose is 66 points back, Lowndes is 81 behind, Skaife 94 and Todd Kelly 110 points, less than two race wins with six races remaining in the final two rounds.
Steven Richards, who began the weekend 121 points behind Ingall, had a weekend to forget and is now sixth, 191 points off the lead with a maximum of 384 points available.
The start saw Lowndes keep the lead as behind him Murphy and Tander diced for second while Skaife dropped to fourth just ahead of Cameron McConville.
During the mid-race pitstops Skaife was the big winner, moving past both Murphy and Tander into second place as Lowndes streaked away at the front.
A late-race caution bunched the field up but the order remained static after the restart, Lowndes winning from Skaife, Murphy, Garth Tander and McConville.
Result of race three:
Pos Driver Car 1. Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon BA 2. Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VZ 3. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VZ 4. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VZ 5. Cameron McConville Holden Commodore VZ 6. Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VZ 7. Steve Ellery Ford Falcon BA 8. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VZ 9. Jason Bright Ford Falcon BA 10. Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore VZ 11. Marcos Ambrose Ford Falcon BA 12. Steven Johnson Ford Falcon BA 13. Dean Canto Holden Commodore VZ 14. Max Wilson Holden Commodore VZ 15. Greg Ritter Ford Falcon BA 16. Paul Weel Holden Commodore VZ 17. John Bowe Ford Falcon BA 18. Steven Richards Holden Commodore VY 19. Jason Richards Holden Commodore VZ 20. Glenn Seton Ford Falcon BA 21. David Besnard Ford Falcon BA 22. Paul Dumbrell Holden Commodore VY 23. Alex Davison Holden Commodore VZ 24. Russell Ingall Ford Falcon BA 25. Paul Morris Holden Commodore VZ 26. Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon BA 27. Paul Radisich Holden Commodore VZ 28. Brad Jones Ford Falcon BA 29. Craig Baird Ford Falcon BA 30. Anthony Tratt Holden Commodore VY DNF Matthew White Ford Falcon BA DNF Jason Bargwanna Ford Falcon BA
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