Second victory for Mark Winterbottom in shortened race

Mark Winterbottom claimed his second straight victory in a shortened second race at Albert Park. Once again the honours were double for Prodrive Racing Australia as Chaz Mostert came home in second, applying pressure on team mate Winterbottom all through the race to finish just 0.4731 seconds behind.

Shane Van Gisbergen made his way past James Courtney to take the final podium finish. Triple Eight Race Engineering driver Jamie Whincup finished fifth ahead of Nissan Motorsport’s Rick Kelly in sixth.

Just as in the first race, the safety car was brought out on lap one. This race it was due to a clash between Dale Wood and Scott McLaughlin. Wood spun backwards into the barriers and retired while McLaughlin was able to continue, although at the very tail of the field. The lengthy recovery of Wood’s car lead to the shortening of the race from 12 to nine laps.

Tim Slade finished seventh ahead of the fighting duo of Fabian Coulthard and Garth Tander. Coulthard was able to get past on the last lap after contact between the two. Craig Lowndes rounded off the top ten, eleven seconds behind the leaders.

The non-championship round at the Australian Grand Prix continues tomorrow with a third race.