The Castrol Edge Townsville 400 saw starring performances from the category’s heavy hitters and one of its minnow teams.
Drivers from Red Bull, Prodrive and the Holden Racing Team shared the podium finishes, but it was David Reynolds and Erebus that stole much of the attention on Sunday.
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Shane van Gisbergen
Continued on from his strong Hidden Valley form to score a win and a second from the two races, strengthening his already formidable title bid.
Deficit to Whincup on Saturday appeared greater than it was after a lack of time for a crucial ride height adjustment in the first stop left him struggling in the second stint.
Ironically benefitted from his own mistake on Sunday as an early lock-up triggered a switch of strategies between the two Red Bull entries.
Race craft displayed both on Saturday against Mostert and Sunday against Winterbottom was, however, simply second-to-none.
Jamie Whincup
Broke pole position and race win droughts on Saturday with a commanding performance that rekindled memories from previous title winning seasons.
Despite a brush with the wall in Friday practice, Whincup and engineer David Cauchi found a set-up so good on tyres that team-mate Van Gisbergen copied it for Sunday.
Had again out-qualified Van Gisbergen and ran ahead of the Kiwi in the early stages on Sunday but found himself switched to the non-preferred strategy through no fault of his own.
Deserved more than a fourth place finish after another top quality performance on a track with which the six-time champion enjoys a special affinity.
Mark Winterbottom
Proved the only driver truly capable of taking it to the Red Bull duo in a fair fight across the weekend, scoring an impressive pole and a pair of third place finishes.
Made the most of a strong strategy on Saturday by pulling a series of clean, calculated passes while on fresher tyres in the final stint.
Drove well to be in the box seat for victory on Sunday, but ultimately did not have the pace to keep the faster Holdens of Van Gisbergen and Courtney at bay.
Continues to build a solid title defence, largely maximising results in a car that has rarely been the fastest in the field.
James Courtney
Fought hard to bring some relief to the Holden Racing Team on a weekend where its Commodores were still no match for the likes of Triple Eight and Prodrive.
Qualifying third on Saturday and finishing second on Sunday were the clear highlights, the latter of which was achieved after a deft late strategy call from the team.
Saturday’s race had yielded sixth after early efforts to hang onto the back of the Red Bull entries proved in vain.
Apart from failing to maximise in Sunday qualifying, appeared to largely carry the car above its level on the challenging street course.
David Reynolds
Arguably the star of Sunday, qualifying fifth and running inside the top three for much of the 200km journey aboard a second-hand car being run on a tight budget.
Deserved more than a 14th place finish after the late Safety Car meant those on fresher tyres blazed through in the closing six laps.
Qualified 12th and finished 11th on Saturday as the team continued its run of improving throughout the weekends while it gains more knowledge of its ex-Walkinshaw package.
Continues to impress the team in and out of the car, gelling strongly with engineer Barry Ryan since the partnership began in Darwin.
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