Courtney surges into series lead with another victory

James Courtney has taken the championship lead, taking a fourth consecutive win as rival Whincup crashes out and recovers to 24th.

Courtney started from sixth on the grid, after blaming traffic from preventing him getting a clean run in the 20 minute session – but that didn’t stop the 29 year old driver from Sydney from moving through the field into the lead.

“It was an amazing race, I had really good car speed throughout the whole race. I just had to bide my time.” said Courtney

“It’s going to taste pretty sweet once I get out of here tonight, I think.

“I was trying to tell myself second was good enough but there’s a crazy will to win inside me and I thought I may need these few extra points later in the year.”

Jamie Whincup was knocked into the gravel trap after a safety car period to recover Jason Bargwanna’s #11 Rock Racing entry on lap 37 – he brought the car into the pits, but could manage no better than 24th.

Craig Lowndes again finished second, with Fujitsu Racing’s Lee Holdsworth rounding out the podium.

The top mover was Wilson Security Racing’s Tim Slade, who had qualified a lowly 24th, but managed his tyres perfectly to make a strong run and move up to 7th at the finish.

James Courtney now leads the championship with 1,467 points, with Courtney dropping to second with 1,353. TeamVodafone team mate Lowndes closes in on his team mate with 1,245.

Shane van Gisbergen’s relatively low scoring weekend drops him back to fourth in the standings, and into the clutches of a closing Garth Tander.