David Reynolds fended off Prodrive stablemate Chaz Mostert to score a long awaited second career victory in the final race of the weekend at Hidden Valley.
Pole-sitter Reynolds lost the lead to fellow front-row starter Fabian Coulthard on the run to the first corner, but found himself back in front when the Holden driver ran wide on lap 12.
Dropping to third, Coulthard would never truly recover from the Turn 5 fumble, going on to fill the final podium spot behind the two Fords.
Typically for a 200km Sunday race with both compounds of tyres in use, the race – which was devoid of Safety Car interruptions – was a strategic battle from the outset.
The bulk of the field ran a soft-hard-soft strategy, although stint lengths varied greatly throughout the field.
The Bottle-O Ford spent just 11 of the 70 laps on the hards in the middle of the race before a puncture led to an early switch back to the softs.
With 25 laps to go the strategies had shaken out with Reynolds leading Mostert, Craig Lowndes and Coulthard.
Reynolds’ advantage was less than a second, however, after an off at Turn 5 that saw the Ford rejoin at Turn 7 and subsequently slow so that the shortcut went without penalty.
The leader proved able to hang on despite his soft tyres being 10 laps older than those on the chasing Mostert and Coulthard cars.
Shane van Gisbergen and Mark Winterbottom ran similar strategies to those ahead on the way to fourth and fifth respectively.
Nick Percat, James Courtney, Jason Bright, Tim Slade and Dale Wood rounded out the top 10 while McLaughlin, on a hard-soft-soft strategy, came home 11th.
Red Bull went aggressive on set-up with both cars and found the limit of the soft rubber in the process.
Whincup completed his first three stints on his set of softs before a deflating tyre eventually saw a third stop – this time for hards – on lap 46. He finished 22nd
Team-mate Lowndes’ soft-hard-soft strategy meanwhile took a late twist when he pitted with a tyre problem on lap 52, requiring a move back to the hards for the end.
The Saturday hero had been third when he pitted but took the flag just 15th.
Result: V8 Supercars Race 15, Hidden Valley
1 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG/X | 70 | 01:20:42.3270 |
2 | Pepsi Max Crew | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG/X | 70 | 01:20:43.1982 |
3 | Freightliner Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VF | 70 | 01:20:43.7442 |
4 | Team Darrell Lea STIX | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 70 | 01:20:51.9526 |
5 | Pepsi Max Crew | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG/X | 70 | 01:20:55.4968 |
6 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 70 | 01:20:57.9840 |
7 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 70 | 01:21:03.9171 |
8 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 70 | 01:21:05.7630 |
9 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 70 | 01:21:11.5109 |
10 | GB Galvanizing Racing | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 70 | 01:21:14.6245 |
11 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo S60 | 70 | 01:21:16.5476 |
12 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 70 | 01:21:17.3053 |
13 | Nissan Motorsport | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 70 | 01:21:20.9974 |
14 | Nissan Motorsport | James Moffat | Nissan Altima | 70 | 01:21:22.1237 |
15 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 70 | 01:21:29.4037 |
16 | DJR Team Penske | Scott Pye | Ford Falcon FG/X | 70 | 01:21:29.8794 |
17 | Nissan Motorsport | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 70 | 01:21:33.1777 |
18 | Walkinshaw Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 70 | 01:21:36.1589 |
19 | Super Black Racing | Andre Heimgartner | Ford Falcon FG/X | 70 | 01:21:36.3487 |
20 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | David Wall | Volvo S60 | 70 | 01:21:50.2851 |
21 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 70 | 01:21:55.7642 |
22 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 69 | 01:20:46.5812 |
23 | Team Cooldrive | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 69 | 01:20:54.5087 |
24 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Will Davison | Mercedes E63 AMG | 69 | 01:20:55.0617 |
DNF | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Ashley Walsh | Mercedes E63 AMG | 33 | Â Â 39:06.0181 |
V8 Supercars Championship StandingsÂ
Position | Driver | Points |
1 | Â Mark Winterbottom | 1165 |
2 | Â Craig Lowndes | 1070 |
3 | Â Fabian Coulthard | 1010 |
4 | Â Chaz Mostert | Â 991 |
5 | Â Shane Van Gisbergen | Â 940 |
6 | Â James Courtney | Â 935 |
7 | Â David Reynolds | Â 925 |
8 | Â Jamie Whincup | Â 879 |
9 | Â Garth Tander | Â 870 |
10 | Â Rick Kelly | Â 771 |
11 | Â Todd Kelly | Â 678 |
12 | Â Tim Slade | Â 635 |
13 | Â Jason Bright | Â 634 |
14 | Â Michael Caruso | Â 624 |
15 | Â Nick Percat | Â 623 |
16 | Â Will Davison | Â 601 |
17 | Â James Moffat | Â 585 |
18 | Â Scott McLaughlin | Â 573 |
19 | Â Dale Wood | Â 543 |
20 | Â Lee Holdsworth | Â 503 |
21 | Â Tim Blanchard | Â 452 |
22 | Â David Wall | Â 435 |
23 | Â Scott Pye | Â 431 |
24 | Â Andre Heimgartner | Â 422 |
25 | Â Ashley Walsh | Â 325 |
26 | Â Marcos Ambrose | Â 125 |