Mark Winterbottom fights to second straight Townsville victory

Mark Winterbottom fought his way from fifth on the grid to win his second straight V8 Supercars victory at Townsville, further extending his championship lead.

Volvo Polestar Racing driver Scott McLaughlin claimed a first pole position of 2015 and took the lead of the race. But the Kiwi was passed by David Reynolds and Chaz Mostert early on. Not long after, McLaughlin had to once again retire from the race due to technical issues, this time with a broken power steering belt.

Winterbottom meanwhile pitted early and was right on the back of race leader Reynolds after the second stop. The Ford colleagues fought hard but with Winterbottom making his way past as Reynolds made a mistake on lap 52.

As Winterbottom pulled away in the lead, Reynolds and Mostert found them selves under pressure from Holden Racing Team drivers James Courtney and Garth Tander.

Courtney had a strong pace at the very end of the race and made his way past both Moster tand Reynolds to finish second. Reynolds managed to keep third ahead of Tander in fourth, while Prodrive Racing Australia’s Mostert, just like yesterday, fell down at the very end of the race to finish sixth.

Reigning champion Jamie Whincup finished fifth with Lee Holdsworth claiming seventh for Walkinshaw Racing. Super Black Racing driver Andre Heimgartner confirmed a strong qualifying result by finishing eighth while a struggling Craig Lowndes crossed the line in ninth position. Todd Kelly was the best Nissan driver in tenth position.

Fabian Coulthard, who had a strong race yesterday, was involved in the top fight but fell down to 13th position after receiving a penalty for spinning his rear wheels during a pit stop.

Winterbottom leads the drivers’ championship with a gap of 248 points to Lowndes in second. Coulthard has moved up to third on 1205 points with Reynolds fourth just 13 points behind.

V8 Supercars resumes in three weeks with the Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint.