FPR ace holds off Holden threat to win at Barbagallo.
Mark Winterbottom brought relief to the V8 Supercar field in race one at Barbagallo, converting his pole position into a race win that ended Garth Tander's run of six straight successes.
The Ford man had to fend off a concerted challenge from front row partner Mark Skaife to hold on to his hard-earned top spot, and was then granted breathing space when the safety car appeared to clear up a first lap clash between rookie Michael Caruso and veteran Jason Bright.
Tander also moved up from third on the grid to challenge his Toll/HRT team-mate before the pace was calmed, and the top three then ran in order to the close, with Winterbottom never seriously under threat once the race resumed on lap eight.
"We thought we'd go well here, but weren't sure how well because it's traditionally a Holden circuit," Winterbottom said after securing his seventh career win, "In the end, it went pretty smoothly.
"It's always easier when you're in front with an open track mind. Mark got a good launch off the grid and we were side-by-side into the first corner but, after that, I just had to get my head down and do some good times."
Having been pipped to pole by Winterbottom's last ditch qualifying run, Skaife admitted that he didn't quite have what was needed to take the battle to the FPR man in the race either.
"My car wasn't quite good enough when it needed to be, which allowed Frosty to sneak away," he conceded, "Yesterday, we had a good race car, but didn't get the gain on new rubber. Today, it was the opposite - we tuned it better for new tyres, but probably didn't turn it back enough for the race and it hurt the rear tyres a little at the end.
We'll make a couple of changes tonight, make it flow a little better and see what we can about the Blue Oval boys."
Having run door-to-door with his team-mate on lap one, Tander survived a spirited late race battle with Winterbottom's FPR team-mate, Steven Richards, before taking third. The reigning champion locked a brake, allowing Richards to sit on his bumper with just two laps to go, but had just enough to keep him at bay.
"We lost a little time on one of the tyres on the stop, but we were never going to be good enough to get around the guys in front," Tander confessed, "We had really good speed and I started chasing Skaifey down for a while, then the tyres started to go away. We had a lot of understeer this morning in qualifying and we changed it, but it turned into a really oversteering car, so we didn't get the most out of it.
"With 20 laps to go, I had Richo all over me and didn't think I'd be finishing on the podium - he could have had me off anywhere, as I was really struggling at turns one and six, but thankfully he didn't."
TeamVodafone's Craig Lowndes was also in the fight for third, while James Courtney, Rick and Todd Kelly, and Will Davison scrapped in his wake. Acknowledging that he has had some mixed race results at Barbagallo in the past, Lowndes said that he would accept a solid fifth to start the weekend.
"This is a good result for us as it is something of a bogey track for our team," he said, "We need to find a bit more drive, but overall I am very happy with the car it was consistent throughout the race and looked after its tyres well. I am much happier being in this position tonight than I was this time last year."
Courtney's challenge was disrupted when he had to take a drive-thru' penalty after officials deemed him to be blocking those chasing his brand new Jeld-Wen Falcon, but he was also struggling to keep the wayward machine on the road..
"I guess I was surprised how quickly the black flag was called after I got the warning for blocking, and I'm pretty frustrated to be at the back of the field again after a good qualifying session," the Stone Brothers driver commented, "The car was good early, but it started to go off very quickly after our pit-stop. I was struggling just about everywhere on the track and just trying to hang on to position. It's possible that something may have broken during the race, so the guys are having a look at it now to get back on track tomorrow."
With Courtney out of the equation, Rick Kelly moved up to accept sixth, just ahead of the charging Jamie Whincup, who had qualified only 22nd on return from his Hamilton shunt.
"We made the most out of a bad qualifying run," said Whincup, "The car balance we have had this weekend actually worked for us in the race. If I can hold position at the start we will be in a good place to progress up the order tomorrow. I am sure Roland and our engineers will sleep a lot easier knowing that the fundamentals of our car set-up are right."
Davison, Todd Kelly and Cameron McConville rounded out the top ten, just ahead of veterans Russell Ingall and Greg Murphy. The Sprint Gas Racing driver had earlier been involved in the opening lap shunt that accounted for Caruso and Bright, however.
The trio had run three-abreast down the main straight, and the squeeze into the next corner did not work, with Bright and Caruso spearing off. The Valvoline Cummins Holden driver then slid across the wet infield and straight into the path of the oncoming traffic, collecting a totally unsuspecting Shane van Gisbergen, who was also forced to retire with rear-end damage to the SP Tools Ford.
"I feel sorry for Shane, but I had absolutely no control over where I was going," Caruso said.
"The hit took me by surprise," van Gisbergen admitted, "I was coming out of the corner and had the power down and all of a sudden I got drilled. I spun around a few times, and went straight into the pits, but we couldn't get the SP Tools Falcon back out on the track. It was a shame that we couldn't carry on after a really good qualifying session, but it was great to be in the top ten again. I guess I will have plenty of passing practice tomorrow."
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