Winterbottom wins race two, and is back in the title hunt

Mark Winterbottom won race two at a wet Symmons Plains, whilst the usual front runners ran in to trouble in Tasmania.

Winterbottom had secured pole position, but Trading Post Racing’s Jason Bright stormed into the lead at the start getting better traction off the line.

Frosty managed to get back ahead of Bright after six laps, with TeamVodafone’s Craig Lowndes following through into second place.

Then trouble hit Lowndes as soon afterwards he had to retire with a broken gearbox which had left him with only first gear.

Jason Bright continued to keep Winterbottom on his toes, closing in on the FPR Falcon as the conditions dried out, with Paul Dumbrell in the Bottle-O Ford Falcon just behind in third.

During the pit-stops, Dumbrell got the jump on Bright, moving up into second place and that’s how the top three remained for the rest of the race.

Paul Dumbrell’s second place is his first podium finish in nine years of competition in V8 Supercars top tier.

Jamie Whincup was sitting in fourth, and looked set to assume the championship lead but a re-fuelling problem meant Whincup had to stop late on for a top up and eventually finished 15th.

Jim Beam Racing driver James Courtney had recovered to 12th by the end of the race, having dropped as far down as 22nd after a drive through penalty for contact with GRM’s Lee Holdsworth, and now actually extends his lead to 50 points from TeamVodafone driver Jamie Whincup.

Mark Winterbottom’s win puts him back up to third place in the standings, 200 points down on Courtney, with Lowndes now 257 points behind, with 600 points to be had at the last two meetings at Sandown & Sydney.