A pair of thrilling V8 Supercars races at Barbagallo saw a handful of standout performers.
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Mark Winterbottom
Winterbottom rated Sunday’s win as one of his career best and, having sublimely managed his final tyre set on the way to victory, it was hard to argue.
The reigning champ used all his skill and experience to keep a charging Scott McLaughlin behind over the last two laps, mixing clever car placement with big commitment under braking.
He blotted his copybook with an off on Saturday, however, which snowballed into a lowly 22nd place finish and a temporary slide down the points standings.
Scott McLaughlin
McLaughlin stood up for Garry Rogers Motorsport both on and off track at Barbagallo following the week’s shock news of Volvo’s impending withdrawal.
Despite the added awkwardness of himself appearing likely to head elsewhere in 2017, McLaughlin said all the right things publicly and delivered a fine podium drive on Sunday.
Still, the nature of the late battle in Race 9 leaves a ‘what if?’ factor for the youngster, who admitted post-race that he was too eager into Turn 7 on the penultimate lap.
Craig Lowndes
Yes, engineer Ludo Lacroix pulled a great strategy in Race 8, but Lowndes drove brilliantly to turn the plan into a victory.
He managed the tyres to perfection and, most notably, was able to carve through the traffic with almost no loss of lap speed thanks to a series of calculated passes.
Put in another strong drive to be best of the three-stoppers on Sunday, but would surely have been in the box seat for victory had he been able to fend off McLaughlin on his out-lap.
Shane van Gisbergen
Amid the hype of Lowndes’ Race 8 victory, it was easy to overlook the fact that the race had been otherwise dominated by Van Gisbergen.
The Kiwi cut his way to the front in the early wet laps, but it was his ability to manage his tyres while staying ahead of all the other one-stoppers after the switch to slicks that was most impressive.
Didn’t quite have enough pace for a podium on Sunday, but a fourth and a second on a track previously considered a bogey venue for the driver made for a solid haul of championship points.
Chris Pither
After a horror start to his rookie V8 Supercars Championship season, Pither provided the surprise of the weekend at Barbagallo.
Benefitted from the Race 8 qualifying rain to start eighth, but made the most of it, outshining all three of his highly fancied Prodrive team-mates to repeat the result in the race.
Saved his best until Sunday morning with a fourth placed grid slot before sliding to 14th in the race.
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