Winterbottom wins race 2 in last lap thriller

Mark Winterbottom took his second win of the day at Albert Park in the non-championship event, passing Shane Van Gisbergen on the final lap.

Triple Eight’s Jamie Whincup took the lead from pole-sitter Winterbottom at the start, but lost ground in the pit stop, which the majority of teams opted to take at the end of the first lap.

Will Davison in the sister FPR Falcon opted to pit at the end of the race and stayed out to lead the first 11 laps ahead of Craig Lowndes, who retired with a mechanical problem on lap seven in his Triple Eight Commodore.

When Davison pitted, Van Gisbergen’s SBR Ford took the lead, but slid wide at Turn 5 under pressure from Winterbottom, handing the FPR driver the race win. Van Gisbergen went on to finish second with Davison completing the top three.

Garth Tander was the top placed Holden driver for HRT in fourth ahead of Jamie Whincup.

The third race of the weekend takes place at 15:20 local time on Saturday.