Mark Winterbottom has taken his third race win of the weekend in a shortened Race 3 for the MSS Security V8 Supercars Challenge at Albert Park.
Winterbottom led home Garth Tander by 1.3s, while Will Davison, Shane van Gisbergen and Fabian Coulthard rounded out the top five.
The race was reduced to a 7 lap sprint after a red flag for a Lap 1 incident that was triggered by contact between James Courtney and Jamie Whincup at Turn 3.
The TeamVodafone Commodore was spun into the path of the field, where it was collected by the Holdens of Karl Reindler, Taz Douglas, David Wall and Russell Ingall. Douglas' car ended up on its side after the incident, resulting in a lengthy clean-up period.
While pole-sitter Mark Winterbottom slipped to fourth on the initial start, the Orrcon Ford driver led the field away on the second attempt, before heading a train of hard tyre shod cars to pitlane at the end of the opening lap.
The key runners to stay out were Davison, Coulthard and Greg Murphy, who had all started on the softer rubber.
The trio waited until the end of the penultimate lap before pitting, with Davison returning to the circuit between Winterbottom and Tander.
The Toll HRT Commodore then found its way around the Trading Post Falcon at Turn 11 as Davison struggled to get his hard tyres up to temperature.
Lee Holdsworth, Craig Lowndes, Todd Kelly, Murphy and David Reynolds rounded out the top 10, with Courtney 11th after going unpenalised for his hit on Whincup.
Whincup took the restart from pitlane and eventually finished as the last of the runners in 23rd after electing to run on the hard tyres for the majority of the race.
Others looking to save their soft rubber for tomorrow included Jason Bright, Steve Owen and Rick Kelly.
Alexandre Premat joined Reindler, Douglas, Wall and Ingall in failing to take the restart after sustaining damage in the initial fracas.
See below for the full Race 3 result
1 | Orrcon Steel FPR Ford | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 7 | 42:52.4637 |
2 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE2 | 7 | 42:55.7900 |
3 | Trading Post FPR Ford | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 7 | 42:56.4581 |
4 | SP Tools Racing | Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 7 | 42:56.7418 |
5 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 7 | 42:58.5122 |
6 | Irwin Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Ford Falcon FG | 7 | 42:59.0394 |
7 | TeamVodafone | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE2 | 7 | 43:00.5492 |
8 | Jack Daniel's Racing | Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 7 | 43:03.1938 |
9 | Pepsi Max Crew | Greg Murphy | Holden Commodore VE2 | 7 | 43:04.4591 |
10 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 7 | 43:05.1506 |
11 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VE2 | 7 | 43:05.1681 |
12 | Tekno Autosports | Michael Patrizi | Holden Commodore VE2 | 7 | 43:10.1747 |
13 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 7 | 43:10.4617 |
14 | Tony D'Alberto Racing | Tony D'Alberto | Ford Falcon FG | 7 | 43:10.5530 |
15 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 7 | 43:10.7538 |
16 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE2 | 7 | 43:10.9515 |
17 | Lucky 7 Racing | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 7 | 43:11.1869 |
18 | Team Norton DJR | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 7 | 43:12.4832 |
19 | V.I.P. Petfoods | Steve Owen | Ford Falcon FG | 7 | 43:13.9573 |
20 | Tekno Autosports | Jonathon Webb | Holden Commodore VE2 | 7 | 43:16.9241 |
21 | Jim Beam Racing | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 7 | 43:18.0328 |
22 | Jack Daniel's Racing | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 7 | 43:18.1651 |
23 | TeamVodafone | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 7 | 43:31.9597 |
DNF | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Alexandre Premat | Holden Commodore VE2 | ||
DNF | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE2 | ||
DNF | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE2 | ||
DNF | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Holden Commodore VE2 | ||
DNF | Team iSelect | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VE2 |
See below for Speedcafe.com's Australian Grand Prix Race Guide