Surfers V8 Supercars: Jamie Whincup and Sebastien Bourdais win race one

The international co-drivers took the start, but it took three attempts to get the race going as accidents interrupted proceedings.

The first crash was the largest. A chain reaction from James Hinchcliffe's slow start ended in multi-car contact featuring the Canadian, Tonio Liuzzi, Simon Pagenaud and Ricky Taylor, with the latter launched into a roll.

Everyone was unhurt and the wreckage quickly cleared, but there was more carnage at the second try, this time when Nicolas Minassian stalled and was collected by his sometime Peugeot Le Mans team-mate Franck Montagny.

A clean start was finally achieved at the third attempt. Mika Salo managed to jump Bourdais for the lead, and that set up a spectacular long dice between the ex-Formula 1 pair in the Ford Performance Racing Falcon and Triple Eight Holden.

Despite everything Bourdais threw at him, Salo was able to hold off the four-time Champ Car champion throughout the first stint. Although Bourdais managed to slip ahead a few times, he always cut chicanes in doing so and had to relinquish the place.

In the event, Bourdais need not have tried so hard, as Triple Eight jumped FPR in the pitstops and Salo's partner Will Davison then hit the wall on his out-lap, in another huge blow to his title chances.

That left Whincup five seconds clear of James Courtney, with Jonathon Webb and Garth Tander next up - the latter having come through from 24th on the grid thanks to a strong first stint by Ryan Briscoe and a well-timed pitstop before one of the many safety cars.

A late caution for debris closed things up again. As Courtney's tyres faded, Webb - whose co-driver Marc Lieb had kept up with Salo and Bourdais for a while early on - passed him and stepped up to challenge Whincup.

The Tekno driver stayed right on Whincup's tail to the flag, and although never quite able to pass, finished just 0.4 seconds adrift for his second ever V8 podium.

Mark Winterbottom surged through the field in the closing laps to take third for FPR, catching up with Whincup and Webb's lead battle by the end.

Tander hung on for fourth. David Reynolds' late efforts to pass him ended in contact and damage for the Ford, and thereafter Tander was able to resist Tim Slade and Craig Lowndes to take the place. Tander's HRT team-mate Courtney eventually fell back to seventh.

Rick Kelly led the next group home for eighth. His co-driver Graham Rahal had earlier enjoyed a spectacular long battle with Courtney's partner Darren Turner.

Results - 79 laps:

Pos  Drivers                    Team/Car                    Time/Gap
 1.  Whincup/Bourdais           Triple Eight Holden    1h45m10.0919s
 2.  Webb/Lieb                  Tekno Holden               + 0.4647s
 3.  Winterbottom/Power         FPR Ford                   + 1.0893s
 4.  Tander/Briscoe             HRT Holden                + 12.2211s
 5.  Slade/Brabham              Rosenberg/SBR Ford        + 12.9548s
 6.  Lowndes/Lyons              Triple Eight Holden       + 14.6256s
 7.  Courtney/Turner            HRT Holden                + 17.1494s
 8.  Kelly/Rahal                Kelly Holden              + 21.5720s
 9.  Ingall/Dumbreck            Walkinshaw/HRT Holden     + 22.0760s
10.  van Gisbergen/Bleekemolen  Stone Brothers Ford       + 22.5905s
11.  Patrizi/di Grassi          Tekno Holden              + 23.7514s
12.  Bright/Sarrazin            Brad Jones Holden         + 23.9662s
13.  Murphy/Wilson              Kelly Holden              + 25.1239s
14.  Douglas/Conway             Dumbrell Holden           + 25.4685s
15.  Wall/Campbell-Walter       Britek/BJR Holden         + 55.0786s
16.  Johnson/Papis              Dick Johnson Ford            + 1 lap
17.  Fiore/Morbidelli           Triple F/DJR Ford           + 2 laps
18.  Davison/Salo               FPR Ford                   + 16 laps

Retirements:

     Reynolds/Heidfeld          Rod Nash/FPR Ford            66 laps
     Owen/Said                  Paul Morris/DJR Ford         40 laps
     Blanchard/Andretti         Kelly Holden                 19 laps
     Moffat/Kox                 Dick Johnson Ford            18 laps
     Holdsworth/Pagenaud        Stone Brothers Ford           0 laps
     D'Alberto/Liuzzi           D'Alberto Ford                0 laps
     Coulthard/Minassian        Brad Jones Holden             0 laps
     Caruso/Hinchcliffe         Garry Rogers Holden           0 laps
     Reindler/Montagny          Kelly Holden                  0 laps
     Ritter/Taylor              Garry Rogers Holden           0 laps