James Courtney fights to Race 3 victory in Clipsal 500

James Courtney fought his way to win the third race of the Clipsal 500 weekend in Adelaide. The Holden Racing Team driver beat Triple Eight Race Engineering driver Craig Lowndes by just six tenths of a second after 76 laps.

There was drama early on in the race as Will Davison got a nudge from James Moffatt in turn ten. The nudge sent Davison into the wall, ripping off his left front tyre and bringing the safety car out.

There was even more drama as the race restarted. Three cars went side-by-side in the first corner, with Garth Tander tapping Jason Bright in to a spectacular roll. Bright escaped unharmed while the safety car once again was deployed.

Jamie Whincup headed the field from second on the grid and held the lead for a good portion of the race. But disaster struck in his final pitstop as his car controller touched the car and he spun his rear wheels while the car was being refueled. The infringement meant a drive through penalty for the Holden driver who dropped back to eight position.

The bad luck was not over yet for Whincup who made contact with Michael Caruso in turn nine and broke his left front suspension, meaning a retirement for the reigning champion.

Disaster struck Volvo Polestar Racing driver Scott McLaughlin as well. The Volvo driver made a strong race from tenth on the grid and was third in the race when a faulty battery meant that he stopped on track and ultimately retired from the race just 11 laps from the end.

Shane Van Gisbergen fought his way to the final podium position in third, ahead of Fabian Coulthard and Rick Kelly. Tim Slade, David Reynolds and David Wall rounded off the top eight.

V8 Supercars continues in two weeks with the non-championship event at Melbourne as support class to Formula One.