Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife victorious at Phillip Island

Triple Eight’s experienced driver pairing of Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife led a 1-2 for the team with Jamie Whincup and Andrew Thompson finishing second. The win for Lowndes reduces Whincup’s championship lead to just 92 points.

Nick Percat stalled the No.2 Holden Racing Team Commodore VE II at the start which led to an abort and forced Percat to start from the pit lane. The car which Percat was sharing with 2006 champion Garth Tander had qualified in second place on the grid, which allowed FPR driver Luke Youlden to get away safely at the second attempt.

The Triple Eight cars were aggressive from the start however, with Andrew Thompson and Mark Skaife in the No.88 and No.888 cars respectively quickly working their way up to second and third before the first pit stops.

Nick Percat recovered well in the HRT Commodore, working his way up to fourth from the back of the grid before handing over to Garth Tander on lap 41.

Tander took the lead from Craig Lowndes later in the race, but struggling for grip later on, Lowndes got by on lap 83, with Whincup following through just five laps later, but it wasn’t over yet as Shane van Gisbergen put on a terrific charge to snatch second from Whincup in his Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon and was closing down on Lowndes, until a tyre issue saw him fall back in the final laps and drop down the order to fifth with Tander passing the ailing Falcon at the line to take fourth by one-thousandth of a second.

The championship heads to Mount Panorama next for the famous Bathurst 1000km race.