Mark Winterbottom makes it two wins from two races

Mark Winterbottom made an almost perfect start to the second race in Perth to take a commanding second straight victory ahead of reigning champion Jamie Whincup.

The Prodrive Racing Australia driver started from pole position and immediately pulled up a gap that he was never to lose, winning by close to three seconds in the end. The victory means that the Ford driver has claimed the championship lead.

Triple Race Engineering’s Whincup made up for his poor result in the first race, coming home in second place. Fabian Coulthard put hard pressure on Whincup for second place throughout the race but was not able to get past, finishing third, with Chaz Mostert not far behind in fourth.

Former championship leader Craig Lowndes, who finished third in the first race of the weekend, claimed the final spot of the top five, with Holden Racing Team driver James Courtney in sixth.

David Reynolds claimed position seven, with Nissan Motorsport driver Rick Kelly fending off Erebus Motorsport driver Will Davison for eighth position, with the duo fighting hard towards the end of the race.

Volvo Polestar Racing driver Scott McLaughlin had another dreadful race, retiring from 14th position with a throttle sensor issue.

The V8 Supercars resumes action tomorrow with the third and final race of the weekend.