Scott McLaughlin extended his Supercars Championship lead after completing a comprehensive victory in Race 15 at the Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint.
The DJR Team Penske was made to work for his victory after losing out to Craig Lowndes at the start and after the pit stops.
However, McLaughlin managed to use the pace of his Ford to pass Lowndes for the lead twice in the race before charging to a comfortable victory.
Prodrive's Chaz Mostert produced a solid drive to pass Brad Jones Racing's Tim Slade in the closing stages to claim second.
A charging Shane van Gisbergen snatched third with a final lap pass on Slade.
Lowndes was unable to maintain his early pace as he dropped to fifth.
McLaughlin's sixth win of the season has seen him open up a 111 point lead over Jamie Whincup, who finished 20th after being hampered by a five-place grid drop and a long pit stop.
Lowndes managed to get the jump on the start to lead McLaughlin to Turn 1 while Mostert slotted into third ahead of Slade.
There was plenty of jostling for position behind before the race's first incident at Turn 3.
Dale Wood made contact with James Moffat which turned the Garry Rogers Motorsport driver around.
Alex Rullo made side-to-side contact with Simona de Silvestro to avoid Moffat, suffering terminal damage to his front left.
The incident was the subject of a stewards investigation.
At the front Lowndes' lead was short-lived as McLaughlin slid by at Turn 3 on the third lap.
Lowndes elected to pit for fuel and two rear tyres at the end of the following lap which saw Mostert inherit second from Slade and Mark Winterbottom.
Team-mate Whincup, who started 14th after a grid drop, pitted soon after but an air spike failure saw him lose 10 seconds in the stop dropping him down the order.
McLaughlin opened up a 2.4s lead over Mostert before ducking into the pits for four tyres.
He would re-emerge behind Lowndes for an effective second but the Ford driver soon found his way by the veteran.
The battle for the podium took a twist as Slade jumped Mostert in the pits to emerge in net third ahead of Rick Kelly and Winterbottom.
Slade, who took on rubber on the left front and rear, continued his charge by passing Lowndes at Turn 6.
Lowndes soon fell into the clutches of Mostert, who also managed to pass the Triple Eight driver.
Meanwhile, van Gisbergen, Jason Bright and Fabian Coulthard chose to go for a long first stint with the leader choosing to pit on lap 21.
He rejoined in an effective eighth while Coulthard slotted into 16th position.
Van Gisbergen and Coulthard, armed with fresher tyres, began to charge through the field to move into seventh and 13th respectively.
At the front, McLaughlin maintained his impressive pace while Slade lost out to Mostert at Turn 6 in the battle for second 10 laps from the finish.
Behind, van Gisbergen and Coulthard's strong late pace showed no sign of abating as the pair climbed to fourth and sixth.
There was no stopping McLaughlin as he took the win from Mostert, while van Gisbergen took third with a final lap pass on Slade at Turn 4.
Lowndes finished fifth ahead of title contender Coulthard.
Nick Percat came home in seventh for Brad Jones Racing as Rick Kelly (Nissan Motorsport), Winterbottom (Prodrive) and David Reynolds (Erebus Motorsport) completed the top 10.
Mobil 1 HSV Racing missed out on the top 10 with Scott Pye 13th and James Courtney in 14th spot.
Jack Le Brocq emerged as the top wildcard finisher in 19th ahead of Red Bull's Whincup, Tim Blanchard and Matt Stone Racing wildcard Todd Hazelwood.
Rullo and Jason Bright were the only cars to retire from the race which ran without a Safety Car.
Moffat returned to the race after a spell in the garage while Simona de Silvestro suffered a right front puncture in the final laps, dropping the Nissan driver to 27th.
Results: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship: Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint: Race 15
1 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG/X | 39 | 46:36.5253 |
2 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG/X | 39 | 46:39.7723 |
3 | Red Bull Holden Racing Aust | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 46:41.2259 |
4 | Freightliner Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 46:41.6842 |
5 | TeamVortex | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 46:45.6105 |
6 | Shell V-Power Racing Team | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG/X | 39 | 46:46.1050 |
7 | Dunlop Racing | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 46:50.9815 |
8 | Sengled Racing | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 39 | 46:53.7692 |
9 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG/X | 39 | 46:53.9625 |
10 | Erebus Penrite Racing | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 46:57.1903 |
11 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 46:57.7789 |
12 | Preston Hire Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 46:58.2735 |
13 | Mobil 1 HSV Racing | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 46:59.6020 |
14 | Mobil 1 HSV Racing | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 47:01.2753 |
15 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 39 | 47:03.1628 |
16 | Monster Energy Racing | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG/X | 39 | 47:04.0397 |
17 | TEKNO Woodstock Racing | Will Davison | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 47:08.6191 |
18 | carsales Racing | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 39 | 47:09.6970 |
19 | GoGetta Racing / MWM | Jack Le Brocq | Nissan Altima | 39 | 47:15.7230 |
20 | Red Bull Holden Racing Aust | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 47:16.0718 |
21 | Team CoolDrive | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 47:16.6317 |
22 | Bigmate Racing | Todd Hazelwood | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 47:18.2613 |
23 | Erebus GB Galvanizing Racing | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 47:19.4571 |
24 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | James Golding | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 47:20.6372 |
25 | LOCO Energy Drink / MWM | Shae Davies | Nissan Altima | 39 | 47:21.9316 |
26 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Alex Davison | Holden Commodore VF | 39 | 47:25.0254 |
27 | Team Harvey Norman | Simona De Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 37 | 47:14.8417 |
28 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | James Moffat | Holden Commodore VF | 31 | 48:45.1142 |
DNF | MEGA Racing | Jason Bright | Ford Falcon FG/X | 33 | 39:49.5652 |
DNF | Repair Management Aust Racing | Alex Rullo | Holden Commodore VF |
Championship points
1 | Scott McLaughlin | 1758 |
2 | Jamie Whincup | 1647 |
3 | Fabian Coulthard | 1552 |
4 | Shane Van Gisbergen | 1506 |
5 | Chaz Mostert | 1395 |
6 | Mark Winterbottom | 1257 |
7 | Craig Lowndes | 1215 |
8 | Garth Tander | 1152 |
9 | David Reynolds | 1137 |
10 | Cameron Waters | 1120 |
11 | Lee Holdsworth | 924 |
12 | Tim Slade | 912 |
13 | James Moffat | 909 |
14 | Will Davison | 876 |
15 | Nick Percat | 849 |
16 | Rick Kelly | 843 |
17 | Michael Caruso | 813 |
18 | Scott Pye | 787 |
19 | Todd Kelly | 760 |
20 | James Courtney | 747 |
21 | Jason Bright | 639 |
22 | Tim Blanchard | 630 |
23 | Simona De Silvestro | 600 |
24 | Dale Wood | 512 |
25 | Alex Rullo | 369 |
26 | Taz Douglas | 198 |
27 | Macauley Jones | 147 |
28 | Jack Le Brocq | 135 |
29 | James Golding | 120 |
30 | Shae Davies | 114 |
31 | Cameron McConville | 81 |
32 | Aaren Russell | 69 |
33 | Matthew Brabham | 57 |
34 | Todd Hazelwood | 39 |
35 | Alex Davison | 27 |