Mark Winterbottom fended off a determined Rick Kelly to continue Prodrive’s winning form at the NP300 Navara Winton Super Sprint.
As expected, the result was largely settled off the start, where Winterbottom and Kelly out-dragged pole-sitter Chaz Mostert to Turn 1.
Kelly hounded Winterbottom for much of the 20 lap journey, eventually finishing 0.8s adrift in second.
“We tried to save tyres then so we have tyres for tomorrow,” said Winterbottom afterward, with both Prodrive entries running just two new tyres in the second heat.
“The car was really good. The guys had worked really hard on it and thankfully I can get off the line pretty well, which saved me a bit.”
Mostert was meanwhile left to hold out Prodrive stablemate David Reynolds for third as he also juggled tyres in order to position himself for Sunday.
“We did some different tyre strategies,” admitted Mostert. “We thought we were going to go backwards a lot further than that.”
Shane van Gisbergen beat home Jamie Whincup in fifth after finding a way by the Red Bull Holden into Turn 3 on the second lap.
There had earlier been disaster for Walkinshaw Racing at the first corner as James Courtney, starting 13th, out-braked himself and clattered into teammate Garth Tander.
Tander spun into the infield and was out on the spot while Courtney served a drive-through and, after pitting again to save his tyres, limped home at the back of the field on a set of wets.
Fellow Walkinshaw driver Lee Holdsworth also took damage in the melee and retired to the pits at the end of the opening lap.
Andre Heimgartner too struck opening lap drama, spinning wildly on the run to Turn 3 after being tagged by Ash Walsh.
The Super Black Falcon went on to finish 20th, ahead of Fabian Coulthard, who appeared to be saving tyres after a disastrous qualifying, and James Moffat, who was turned around mid-race by Jason Bright.
Result: V8 Supercars Race 11, Winton
1 |
Pepsi Max Crew |
Mark Winterbottom |
Ford Falcon FG/X |
28:38.32 |
01:25.20 |
2 |
Nissan Motorsport |
Rick Kelly |
Nissan Altima |
28:39.15 |
01:25.27 |
3 |
Pepsi Max Crew |
Chaz Mostert |
Ford Falcon FG/X |
28:40.93 |
01:25.20 |
4 |
The Bottle-O Racing Team |
David Reynolds |
Ford Falcon FG/X |
28:41.29 |
1:25.1285* |
5 |
Team Darrell Lea STIX |
Shane Van Gisbergen |
Holden Commodore VF |
28:42.81 |
01:25.29 |
6 |
Red Bull Racing Australia |
Jamie Whincup |
Holden Commodore VF |
28:43.16 |
01:25.33 |
7 |
Erebus Motorsport V8 |
Will Davison |
Mercedes E63 AMG |
28:46.26 |
01:25.60 |
8 |
Red Bull Racing Australia |
Craig Lowndes |
Holden Commodore VF |
28:47.16 |
01:25.58 |
9 |
Wilson Security Racing GRM |
Scott McLaughlin |
Volvo S60 |
28:49.65 |
01:25.39 |
10 |
Nissan Motorsport |
Michael Caruso |
Nissan Altima |
28:50.13 |
01:25.44 |
11 |
Supercheap Auto Racing |
Tim Slade |
Holden Commodore VF |
28:50.54 |
01:25.55 |
12 |
Repair Management Aust Racing |
Nick Percat |
Holden Commodore VF |
28:53.30 |
01:25.54 |
13 |
Nissan Motorsport |
Todd Kelly |
Nissan Altima |
28:53.55 |
01:25.52 |
14 |
Team BOC |
Jason Bright |
Holden Commodore VF |
28:54.82 |
01:25.76 |
15 |
Erebus Motorsport V8 |
Ashley Walsh |
Mercedes E63 AMG |
29:00.47 |
01:25.86 |
16 |
Team Cooldrive |
Tim Blanchard |
Holden Commodore VF |
29:02.05 |
01:26.16 |
17 |
GB Galvanizing Racing |
Dale Wood |
Holden Commodore VF |
29:06.69 |
01:26.34 |
18 |
DJR Team Penske |
Scott Pye |
Ford Falcon FG/X |
29:07.30 |
01:26.44 |
19 |
Wilson Security Racing GRM |
David Wall |
Volvo S60 |
29:07.70 |
01:26.26 |
20 |
Super Black Racing |
Andre Heimgartner |
Ford Falcon FG/X |
29:08.21 |
01:25.66 |
21 |
Freightliner Racing |
Fabian Coulthard |
Holden Commodore VF |
29:12.32 |
01:26.60 |
22 |
Nissan Motorsport |
James Moffat |
Nissan Altima |
29:50.81 |
01:25.64 |
23 |
Holden Racing Team |
James Courtney |
Holden Commodore VF |
29:51.81 |
01:26.23 |
DNF |
Holden Racing Team |
Garth Tander |
Holden Commodore VF |
||
DNF |
Walkinshaw Racing |
Lee Holdsworth |
Holden Commodore VF |
V8 Supercars Championship after Race 11
1 |
Craig Lowndes |
796 |
2 |
Mark Winterbottom |
787 |
3 |
Jamie Whincup |
723 |
4 |
James Courtney |
714 |
5 |
Fabian Coulthard |
713 |
6 |
Shane Van Gisbergen |
695 |
7 |
Chaz Mostert |
684 |
8 |
Garth Tander |
623 |
9 |
David Reynolds |
606 |
10 |
Rick Kelly |
548 |
11 |
Jason Bright |
496 |
12 |
Todd Kelly |
482 |
13 |
Will Davison |
480 |
14 |
Nick Percat |
422 |
15 |
James Moffat |
378 |
16 |
Michael Caruso |
376 |
17 |
Scott McLaughlin |
375 |
18 |
Dale Wood |
374 |
19 |
Tim Slade |
371 |
20 |
Tim Blanchard |
344 |
21 |
Lee Holdsworth |
334 |
22 |
Andre Heimgartner |
316 |
23 |
David Wall |
282 |
24 |
Ashley Walsh |
243 |
25 |
Scott Pye |
173 |
26 |
Marcos Ambrose |
125 |
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