Prodrive continued its stellar V8 Supercars season as Mark Winterbottom led David Reynolds to a one-two finish in Race 16 at the Castrol Edge Townsville 400.

Winterbottom set up the win by sweeping around the outside of pole-sitter Chaz Mostert at Turn 1, going on to lead all laps outside the pitstop cycles.

The championship leader eventually held off Reynolds by just 0.3s after The Bottle-O Ford failed to find a way through in a tense finish.

“We pushed the limits on the tyres and there was nothing left in the end,” said the winner. “Davey was really close and I thought he might have a go.”

Although the bulk of the field ran what has now become the standard tyre strategy of soft-hard-soft in the 200km race, different stint lengths and fuel loads still provided plenty of strategic intrigue.

Prodrive appeared to be headed for its first podium sweep with Mostert sitting third, within two seconds of the lead, when the second and final stops shook out at the halfway mark.

The #6 Pepsi Ford plummeted down the order in the closing stages however, dropping from third to eighth in the final 10 laps.

Prodrive had pushed the envelope on tyre life, triggering the second round of stops earlier than many expected by pitting Mostert with 40 laps still to run.

Fabian Coulthard was the first of those to pick-off Mostert before charging after the top two, eventually taking the flag just 1.5s behind Reynolds.

Starting eighth, Coulthard had gained important track position by short-filling at his first stop.

Scott McLaughlin scored Volvo’s best result of the season with a solid drive to fourth, just seven seconds behind the winner in a race devoid of Safety Car periods.

Scott Pye completed the top five in another encouraging outing for DJR Team Penske.

Holden Racing Team duo James Courtney and Garth Tander drove solidly to sixth and seventh respectively ahead of Mostert, Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen.

The race was largely devoid of incidents, save for some first lap contact between Todd Kelly and Andre Heimgartner that sent the Super Black Ford to the pits with a flat tyre.

Others to suffer delays included Dale Wood (flat battery) and Nick Percat, who was the only non-finisher after falling foul of mechanical troubles in the closing stages.

Result: V8 Supercars Race 16, Townsville 

1

Pepsi Max Crew

Mark Winterbottom

Ford Falcon FG/X

01:29:22.57

01:13.60

2

The Bottle-O Racing Team

David Reynolds

Ford Falcon FG/X

01:29:22.84

01:13.71

3

Freightliner Racing

Fabian Coulthard

Holden Commodore VF

01:29:24.07

01:14.05

4

Wilson Security Racing GRM

Scott McLaughlin

Volvo S60

01:29:29.56

01:13.84

5

DJR Team Penske

Scott Pye

Ford Falcon FG/X

01:29:30.21

01:13.95

6

Holden Racing Team

James Courtney

Holden Commodore VF

01:29:34.25

01:13.95

7

Holden Racing Team

Garth Tander

Holden Commodore VF

01:29:38.46

01:14.09

8

Pepsi Max Crew

Chaz Mostert

Ford Falcon FG/X

01:29:43.06

01:13.62

9

Red Bull Racing Australia

Jamie Whincup

Holden Commodore VF

01:29:44.20

01:13.65

10

Team Darrell Lea STIX

Shane Van Gisbergen

Holden Commodore VF

01:29:45.58

01:14.37

11

Nissan Motorsport

James Moffat

Nissan Altima

01:29:46.13

01:14.26

12

Erebus Motorsport V8

Will Davison

Mercedes E63 AMG

01:29:47.14

01:14.23

13

Walkinshaw Racing

Lee Holdsworth

Holden Commodore VF

01:30:05.72

01:14.39

14

Red Bull Racing Australia

Craig Lowndes

Holden Commodore VF

01:30:06.63

01:14.22

15

Nissan Motorsport

Michael Caruso

Nissan Altima

01:30:07.42

01:14.01

16

Nissan Motorsport

Rick Kelly

Nissan Altima

01:30:09.25

01:14.25

17

Nissan Motorsport

Todd Kelly

Nissan Altima

01:30:09.77

01:14.20

18

Wilson Security Racing GRM

David Wall

Volvo S60

01:30:16.63

01:14.46

19

Team BOC

Jason Bright

Holden Commodore VF

01:30:22.37

01:14.34

20

Supercheap Auto Racing

Tim Slade

Holden Commodore VF

01:30:27.57

01:14.83

21

Team Cooldrive

Tim Blanchard

Holden Commodore VF

01:29:31.55

01:14.06

22

Erebus Motorsport V8

Ashley Walsh

Mercedes E63 AMG

01:29:57.73

01:15.05

23

Super Black Racing

Andre Heimgartner

Ford Falcon FG/X

01:29:32.11

01:15.77

24

GB Galvanizing Racing

Dale Wood

Holden Commodore VF

01:29:44.94

01:14.53

DNF

Repair Management Aust Racing

Nick Percat

Holden Commodore VF

01:13:56.21

01:14.41

Updated V8 Supercars Championship standings after Race 16

1

Mark Winterbottom

1315

2

Fabian Coulthard

1139

3

Craig Lowndes

1133

4

Chaz Mostert

1081

5

David Reynolds

1063

6

James Courtney

1037

7

Shane Van Gisbergen

1018

8

Garth Tander

966

9

Jamie Whincup

963

10

Rick Kelly

828

11

Todd Kelly

732

12

Scott McLaughlin

693

13

Michael Caruso

684

14

Jason Bright

682

15

Tim Slade

680

16

Will Davison

670

17

James Moffat

657

18

Nick Percat

623

19

Dale Wood

576

20

Lee Holdsworth

569

21

Scott Pye

527

22

Tim Blanchard

494

23

David Wall

486

24

Andre Heimgartner

458

25

Ashley Walsh

364

26

Marcos Ambrose

125