Whincup survives off-track excursion to take Race 12

Jamie Whincup made the most of a late-race restart to snatch victory from team-mate Craig Lowndes in the final race of the weekend at Barbagallo.

Whincup made it back-to-back race wins despite losing the lead with a trip through the Turn 7 gravel trap on Lap 15 of 42 after slipping on coolant dropped by Maro Engel’s Mercedes.

Whincup pitted for new tyres the lap after his incident, eventually emerging from the pitstop cycle second to team-mate Lowndes.

The Saturday winner looked to have the race under control before running wide on the second of two Safety Car restarts with just 11 laps to go, allowing Whincup through.

The Red Bull pair were separated by 1.6s at the flag, with third-placed Jason Bright a further four seconds adrift in fourth after struggling in the closing stages.

Will Davison, David Reynolds, Shane van Gisbergen, Fabian Coulthard, James Moffat, Garth Tander and debutant Chaz Mostert completed the top 10.

Mark Winterbottom also speared off the road with Whincup early on, subsequently dropping to a low of 21st with a slow pitstop.

He recovered to 12th by the flag, split by the Fujitsu GRM Holdens of Alexandre Premat and Scott McLaughlin, who ran as high as the top five before losing a door and much of his speed in the closing stages.

David Wall and Russell Ingall ended their races in the Turn 7 sand trap – causing the second Safety Car.

The first full course yellow had been required to recover Michael Caruso’s Nissan from Turn 7 after it lost a wheel on his out-lap a short time earlier.

At the time of his departure, Caruso had been battling with team-mate James Moffat, who eventually finished a strong eighth.

Lee Holdsworth was the first Mercedes home in 14th after Engel and Tim Slade both had their races hampered by early damage.

See below for the full Race 12 result

See below for the updated points standings