Craig Lowndes has held off a determined Tim Slade to complete a fairytale weekend at the Coates Hire Ipswich 300.
Lowndes added the Race 18 victory to his two wins from yesterday, and also scored both pole positions.
Slade took second from Shane van Gisbergen, James Moffat, David Reynolds, Garth Tander, Fabian Coulthard, Alex Davison, Steve Johnson and Jamie Whincup.
Despite the 65 lap race running without a Safety Car, Lowndes and Slade were separated by less than two seconds for the entire duration.
Van Gisbergen was over 30 seconds behind his team-mate Slade by the chequered flag, while Moffat made it past fellow career-best finisher Reynolds for fourth with just five laps remaining.
Whincup scored 10th position despite pulling into the pitlane on the warm-up lap for his team to remove the cover from his engine's injector trumpets that had been erroneously left on for the race.
The championship leader also received a drive-through penalty for speeding in pitlane – losing him more than a minute to Lowndes in total.
A collision with Rick Kelly on the final lap also added excitement to Whincup's day – the resulting damage seeing Whincup beach his Commodore in the Turn 1 sandtrap after the chequered flag. Kelly ended the race 17th due to the Turn 5 incident.
Steve Owen and Jason Bright were also hard luck stories, with Owen set for a top 10 and Bright a potential podium prior to mechanical issues arising as the cars made their second pitstops.
Russell Ingall and James Courtney were 11th and 12th respectively despite clashing in the closing stages. The contact saw Courtney spin across the middle of Turn 5, costing both drivers position to Kelly and Whincup.
Whincup now leads the championship standings by 98 points over Lowndes, while van Gisbergen, Kelly and Johnson round out the top five.
See below for the Race 18 result
1 | TeamVodafone | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VE2 | 65 | 01:19:06.1660 |
2 | Lucky 7 Racing | Tim Slade | Ford Falcon FG | 65 | 01:19:07.2403 |
3 | SP Tools Racing | Shane Van Gisbergen | Ford Falcon FG | 65 | 01:19:40.1213 |
4 | Jim Beam Racing | James Moffat | Ford Falcon FG | 65 | 01:19:41.6030 |
5 | Stratco Racing | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore VE2 | 65 | 01:19:48.8834 |
6 | Toll Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VE2 | 65 | 01:19:52.5633 |
7 | Bundaberg Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VE2 | 65 | 01:19:53.0609 |
8 | Irwin Racing | Alex Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 65 | 01:19:54.2194 |
9 | Jim Beam Racing | Steven Johnson | Ford Falcon FG | 65 | 01:19:57.5613 |
10 | TeamVodafone | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VE2 | 65 | 01:20:02.8436 |
11 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VE2 | 65 | 01:20:03.7112 |
12 | Toll Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VE2 | 65 | 01:20:03.7926 |
13 | Pepsi Max Crew | Greg Murphy | Holden Commodore VE2 | 65 | 01:20:05.9337 |
14 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Michael Caruso | Holden Commodore VE2 | 65 | 01:20:06.0224 |
15 | Jack Daniel's Racing | Todd Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 65 | 01:20:06.2218 |
16 | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Karl Reindler | Holden Commodore VE2 | 65 | 01:20:10.0226 |
17 | Jack Daniel's Racing | Rick Kelly | Holden Commodore VE2 | 65 | 01:20:13.4547 |
18 | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VE2 | 65 | 01:20:14.8292 |
19 | Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 65 | 01:20:18.3100 |
20 | Wilson Security Racing | Tony D'Alberto | Ford Falcon FG | 65 | 01:20:18.9727 |
21 | Trading Post FPR Falcon | Will Davison | Ford Falcon FG | 64 | 01:19:11.4484 |
22 | Mother Energy Racing Team | Jonathon Webb | Ford Falcon FG | 64 | 01:19:17.4881 |
23 | Gulf Western Oil Racing | Warren Luff | Holden Commodore VE2 | 64 | 01:19:32.3251 |
24 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Paul Dumbrell | Ford Falcon FG | 64 | 01:19:41.0795 |
25 | Triple F Racing | Dean Fiore | Ford Falcon FG | 64 | 01:19:51.6940 |
26 | Jana Living Racing | Jason Bargwanna | Holden Commodore VE2 | 64 | 01:20:12.8733 |
27 | VIP Petfoods | Steve Owen | Holden Commodore VE2 | 63 | 01:19:39.4401 |
28 | Team Boc | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VE2 | 53 | 01:19:19.7856 |
Championship points standings
1 | Jamie Whincup | 1895 |
2 | Craig Lowndes | 1797 |
3 | Shane Van Gisbergen | 1502 |
4 | Rick Kelly | 1418 |
5 | Steven Johnson | 1345 |
6 | Garth Tander | 1321 |
7 | Mark Winterbottom | 1321 |
8 | Will Davison | 1302 |
9 | Alex Davison | 1255 |
10 | Lee Holdsworth | 1140 |
11 | Fabian Coulthard | 1127 |
12 | Jason Bright | 1117 |
13 | Tim Slade | 1109 |
14 | Michael Caruso | 921 |
15 | Greg Murphy | 893 |
16 | Steve Owen | 865 |
17 | James Moffat | 858 |
18 | Jason Bargwanna | 849 |
19 | Paul Dumbrell | 843 |
20 | Russell Ingall | 837 |
21 | James Courtney | 819 |
22 | David Reynolds | 784 |
23 | Jonathon Webb | 736 |
24 | Todd Kelly | 721 |
25 | Tony D'Alberto | 661 |
26 | Karl Reindler | 644 |
27 | Dean Fiore | 631 |
28 | Warren Luff | 462 |