David Russell wins incident-packed Dunlop Series Race 2

David Russell has held off Scott McLaughlin to win an incident packed reverse top 10 grid Race 2 for the Dunlop Series at Queensland Raceway.

Starting second, Russell took the lead from pole-sitter Andrew Jones into the first corner before losing positions to both Jones and a charging Scott McLaughlin following an early Safety Car.

Russell would soon make his way back to the front however as McLaughlin lost positions following contact while trying to pass Jones at Turn 1. McLaughlin dropped back to fifth with minor damage to the left-rear corner of his Falcon, while Jones proved unable to sustain his early pace as the laps continued.

McLaughlin recovered to second with five of the 15 laps remaining, but could only halve Russell’s two second advantage despite setting the lap record in the closing stages.

The result marks Kelly Racing’s first victory in the second-tier Dunlop Series.

Ash Walsh and Scott Pye were third and fourth respectively at the chequered flag, while Chaz Mostert recovered to fifth despite dropping as low as 23rd after contact with Nick Percat on the second lap.

Percat pitted with a punctured tyre after the incident, which saw Mostert turned around at Turn 5. Percat eventually came home as the last finisher in 23rd after serving a drive-through penalty.

The race’s one and only Safety Car was called on the second lap for Michael Hector, who became stranded in the Turn 3 gravel trap after his own incident.

Dale Wood, Cam Waters, Andrew Jones, Paul Morris and George Miedecke completed the top 10 at the conclusion of the race.

Waters ran in his starting position of third with just four laps remaining before his Holden began to run low on fuel.

Tim Blanchard meanwhile dropped from 10th to 16th on the final lap after a touch with Paul Morris sent the Jaylec Ford spinning through the infield.

Marcus Zukanovic fought for a top 10 position for much of the race before pulling off the circuit on Lap 11. Luke Youlden was the race’s only other retirement. The Matthew White Motorsport driver had been scheduled to start sixth, but pulled into the pitlane on the warm-up lap with a broken axle.

The third and final Dunlop Series race of the weekend will take place later this afternoon.

The grid will be set based on combined points from the opening two races, leaving Mostert to start from pole ahead of McLaughlin, Pye, Walsh and David Russell.

See below for the full race result

See below for Speedcafe.com’s Coates Hire Ipswich 300 Race Guide