Mark Winterbottom wins Race 10 as title rivals collide

Mark Winterbottom has secured his third victory of the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship in a crash-marred Race 10 at Phillip Island.

The Orrcon Steel Falcon driver now sits just 10 points behind series leader Jamie Whincup after the TeamVodafone pilot was taken out in a late-race incident with fellow title contender Will Davison.

Shane van Gisbergen survived the carnage to finish second, with Tim Slade, Garth Tander, Lee Holdsworth, Rick Kelly, Jonathon Webb, Jason Bright, Michael Patrizi and Steve Owen rounding out the top 10.

David Reynolds took the lead from pole-sitter Winterbottom off the start, and led until a fuel rig failure dropped The Bottle-O Racing Falcon out of contention.

Winterbottom found himself trailing Davison once the pitstop cycle was complete. The Tradingpost entry had gained time by staying out one lap longer than Winterbottom.

The positions were eventually reversed for good when Winterbottom pulled off an outside move at the fast Hayshed corner on Lap 19 of 32.

A late Safety Car for geese on the circuit then set-up a five-lap shootout to the finish, which would prove disastrous for both Davison and Whincup.

Davison held second from Van Gisbergen, Slade and Whincup when the race went green, but soon found himself at the back of the pack after coming off worst from a ferocious battle.

Contact with right-rear corner of Slade’s Falcon heading into the Coates Hire Hairpin (Turn 4) sent Davison shooting onto the wet grass, which eventually saw the Tradingpost Ford slide into the side of Whincup as the TeamVodafone Commodore rounded the corner.

Whincup was out on the spot, while Davison retired after limping his car back to the pits.

It was also a difficult day for Craig Lowndes, who salvaged 13th place after receiving a drive-through penalty midrace for knocking Jason Bright off the road at Turn 4. Lowndes had earlier broken his own lap record that had stood for 13 years.

Fabian Coulthard had an up and down day in the Lockwood Commodore. The Kiwi dropped down the order with power steering issues early in the race, but was able to recover to as high as 12th before an incident with Steve Owen on the final lap cost 10 places.

The first of the race’s two Safety Car interventions had come after an incident at MG Corner on the second lap that left Alexandre Premat’s Fujitsu Holden stranded on the circuit with heavy rear-end damage.

See below for Fox Sport’s race wrap.

See below for the full Race 10 result

 See below for the updated championship standings