James Courtney scored his second race win of the season in a finale to the Coates Hire Ipswich 400 that saw Jamie Whincup take the championship lead.

Courtney ended up a comfortable six-second winner over Craig Lowndes after a 200km race that ran green for its duration.

The true order was clouded for the most part by fuel strategy as teams spread the 120 litre compulsory fuel drop over their two stops.

Courtney ran second to pole-sitter James Moffat in the early laps before shadowing Craig Lowndes in the middle phase of the race.

Once the second pitstop cycle shook-out, Courtney held a 4s lead over Lowndes and, with fresher tyres, went unchallenged for the duration.

Starting ninth, Lowndes’ aggressive strategy saw him take his first stop at the end of the second lap; a move which vaulted him to the front by one-third distance.

Chaz Mostert secured his second podium in two days with third, staving off a late challenge from Moffat.

The Nissan driver had dropped from first to 10th when taking a large proportion of his fuel drop in the opening round of stops.

The second stops vaulted Moffat back up to fourth, but an off while challenging Mostert on the final lap allowed an impressive Scott Pye to take the position.

Pye had run a long first stint from 12th on the grid, allowing the Dick Johnson Racing Ford to make progress on fresher tyres during the middle portion of the race.

Jamie Whincup finished sixth and assumes the championship lead after Mark Winterbottom suffered a left-rear puncture early in his third stint.

Running directly behind Whincup at the time of the problem, the Ford Performance Racing star eventually finished 22nd and now sits 15 behind his rival in the points standings.

Scott McLaughlin also struck mid-race tyre trouble and finished down in 19th.

The Volvo had been running what was thought to be a net second when his left-front went on the back straight.

The championship continues at Sydney Motorsport Park on August 21-22.

Result: Race 25

Updated championship points after Race 25