Sandown V8s: Shane van Gisbergen wins qualifying race two as big guns hit trouble

The race proved disastrous for most of the usual frontrunners, with Craig Lowndes the only one of the generally dominant Triple Eight/Ford Performance Racing quartet to finish in the top 10 - and he was only seventh.

Points leader Jamie Whincup had surged his Triple Eight Holden into the lead from second on the grid at the start. He then held off van Gisbergen, who started on pole thanks to Youlden's win in qualifying race one, until locking up and sliding off the road on lap 13.

Amazingly Whincup then went off again on the next lap, and this time hit the tyre wall. He was able to get going again and finish 19th.

Fortunately for Whincup all his main rivals were also in the wars. His primary title threat Mark Winterbottom (FPR) could only make it up to 16th after his co-driver Steven Richards' incident in the previous heat.

Winterbottom's team-mate Will Davison was involved in first-lap contact and then picked up damaged when James Moffat and Lee Holdsworth tangled in his path at half-distance. He will start on the back row on Sunday.

Lowndes ran off the road following a safety car restart but was able to battle back to seventh.

Once Whincup had dropped down the order, van Gisbergen was able to pull away from David Reynolds and clinch Stone Brothers' second win of the day.

Garth Tander completed the top three.

Results - 20 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                  Time/Gap
 1.  Shane van Gisbergen  Stone Brothers Ford    25m32.6693s
 2.  David Reynolds       Rod Nash/FPR Ford        + 3.0274s
 3.  Garth Tander         HRT Holden               + 5.9716s
 4.  Tim Slade            Rosenberg/SBR Ford       + 7.3588s
 5.  Michael Caruso       Garry Rogers Holden     + 12.6230s
 6.  Rick Kelly           Kelly Holden            + 12.8124s
 7.  Craig Lowndes        Triple 8 Holden         + 16.4835s
 8.  James Courtney       HRT Holden              + 17.4686s
 9.  Jonathon Webb        Tekno Holden            + 18.2465s
10.  Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden       + 18.2479s
11.  James Moffat         Dick Johnson Ford       + 18.9533s
12.  Steven Johnson       Dick Johnson Ford       + 20.4284s
13.  Lee Holdsworth       Stone Brothers Ford     + 20.9392s
14.  Tony D'Alberto       D'Alberto Ford          + 22.0212s
15.  Russell Ingall       Walkinshaw/HRT Holden   + 22.3070s
16.  Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford                + 22.7164s
17.  Todd Kelly           Kelly Holden            + 23.6294s
18.  Fabian Coulthard     Brad Jones Holden       + 23.9580s
19.  Jamie Whincup        Triple 8 Holden         + 24.4774s
20.  David Wall           Britek/BJR Holden       + 26.3544s
21.  Dean Fiore           Triple F/DJR Ford       + 27.2253s
22.  Steve Owen           Paul Morris/DJR Ford    + 28.3058s
23.  Alexandre Premat     Garry Rogers Holden     + 30.3326s
24.  Michael Patrizi      Tekno Holden            + 32.3779s
25.  Karl Reindler        Kelly Holden            + 34.4652s
26.  Greg Murphy          Kelly Holden            + 46.2385s
27.  Will Davison         FPR Ford                  + 2 laps
28.  Taz Douglas          Dumbrell Holden           + 2 laps