Winterbottom wins Race 7 at Barbagallo

Mark Winterbottom has scored his second successive V8 Supercars Championship race victory by taking out Race 7 at the Trading Post Perth Challenge.

The Orrcon Steel FPR driver showed strong pace on both compounds of tyre over the 50 laps, eventually leading home Jamie Whincup by 3.29s.

The pair chose opposing tyre strategies for the race, with Winterbottom starting on the hards and finishing on the softs

The race was run in largely dry conditions as threatening skies failed to deliver more than intermittent sprinkles.

Craig Lowndes, Lee Holdsworth, James Courtney, Tim Slade, Shane van Gisbergen, Michael Caruso, and Rick Kelly rounded out the top 10.

Winterbottom’s victory came despite a bizarre grid incident that saw the Orrcon Falcon’s left-front door damaged after being clipped by Garth Tander, necessitating hasty repairs.

The race proved to be a disaster for pole-sitter Tander, who was passed in the opening turns by the soft-tyre shod Jason Bright and Jamie Whincup, before being spun by David Reynolds at Turn 7.

Will Davison collided with the stranded Holden Racing Team Commodore in the resulting concertina – ending Tander’s race on the spot. Davison pitted for repairs and eventually finished 25th.

The Safety Car made two appearances during the opening six laps, with the second full-course yellow required after a touch from Dean Fiore saw James Moffat stranded in the Turn 6 sand trap.

Whincup and Winterbottom both found their way around away early leader Bright in the first sint, with the TeamVodafone Commodore gradually building a 4s lead before the Orrcon Falcon pitted on Lap 29.

Whincup pitted two laps later but emerged behind his rival after a slow stop, leaving Winterbottom to cruise home on the quicker rubber.

Third through seventh at the finish were filled by drivers on the hard-soft strategy, with Lowndes having slowly risen from his 16th place grid slot.

Van Gisbergen ran third heading into the final five laps before losing places to Lowndes, Holdsworth, Courtney and Slade while suffering from an apparent engine problem.

Caruso fared best of the drivers who stopped twice during the race. The strategy saw Caruso pit to switch from hards to softs under the early Safety Car, before returning to the hard tyre later in the race.

Fabian Coulthard ran in the top five during the first stint but eventually finished 15th after receiving a drive-through penalty for minor pitlane contact with Todd Kelly.

Steve Owen meanwhile joined Moffat and Tander on the retirements list after the left-rear corner of his VIP Petfoods Falcon began belching smoke midrace.

The results see Whincup retake the championship lead. Davison is now second, 51 points adrift, while Winterbottom is a further 109 points back in third.

See below for the Race 7 result

See below for the updated championship points