Fifth consecutive FV8 round win for Thompson

Andrew Thompson will head to the final round of the Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series at the Sydney Telstra 500 as an almost unbackable title favourite after scoring his fifth consecutive round victory at Sandown today.

The Monster Energy backed Commodore driver sealed the weekend with a lights-to-flag Race 3 win, which came despite heavy pressure from Ford Performance Racing’s new recruit Chaz Mostert.

Thompson now leads the standings by 233 points from David Russell with 300 available at the season finale.

Perkins took third place after a poor start from the front-row saw Mostert sail around the outside of the Supercheap Auto Ford at the first corner.

Scott McLaughlin, David Russell and Paul Morris rounded out the top six, after Morris relegated Rodney Jane from sixth to ninth position with a bold move into Turn 9 on the final lap.

Jane, who expressed his displeasure with Morris earlier in the season after being turned around by the Championship team owner in Townsville, subsequently spun the #67 Commodore at Turn 1 on the slowdown lap.

The race was punctuated by two Safety Car periods, with the first called when Drew Russell bogged his Falcon at Turn 12.

The Safety Car was again required immediately after the restart, where Nick Percat made contact with Tim Blanchard while trying to pass Luke Youlden at Turn 1.

The incident saw both Percat and Blanchard stranded in the sand, while Youlden lost several positions in the confusion.

See below for the full race result