Winterbottom wins controversial Surfers race

Mark Winterbottom and Richard Lyons have won Race 22 of the V8 Supercars Championship at Surfers Paradise

Mark Winterbottom and Richard Lyons have won Race 22 of the V8 Supercars Championship at Surfers Paradise

Mark Winterbottom and Richard Lyons have taken Ford Performance Racing’s first win of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship at the Armor All Gold Coast 600.

Winterbottom overtook the long-time race leading #88 TeamVodafone entry of Jamie Whincup and Sebastien Bourdais with a bold out-braking move with just eight of the race’s 102 laps remaining.

Seemingly content to extend his championship lead, Whincup cruised home to finish in second place, while Lee Holdsworth, Greg Murphy, Rick Kelly, James Courtney, Steve Owen, Russell Ingall, Todd Kelly and Tim Slade rounded out the top ten.

The issue of kerb hopping dominated the race, with the new-for-this-weekend bollard and sensor combination proving highly controversial.

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Several cars received drive-through penalties in the first stint of the race, prior to the electronic sensors being turned off.

With teams and drivers unsure of the change, confusion reigned as drivers began almost straight-lining the Turn 1/2/3 and 6/7/8/9/10 chicanes.

In a repeat of yesterday’s race, Sebastien Bourdais led away from pole position, and was not headed for the duration of his stint.

A tremendous start from fifth on the grid saw Andy Priaulx jump to second at the first corner, with the Briton dropping just 2.6s to Bourdais before the Frenchman pitted when the driver-change window opened on Lap 34.

Priaulx headed to the pits to be replaced by Whincup just one lap later, with the team deciding to short-fuel the #888 car to return Craig Lowndes to the track marginally in-front.

Whincup was soon back ahead thanks to a bold move at Turn 12 on Lowndes’ out-lap, while Winterbottom was a full 20s behind the squabbling Vodafone entries by the time the Safety Car appeared for debris on Lap 44.

While the leading contenders did not pit under the yellow, Mika Salo brought the Trading Post FPR Falcon into the pits to hand over to Will Davison. The Finn had endured a left-front puncture while running in fourth position on Lap 32 – two circuits shy of his minimum required distance.

Whincup continued to hold Lowndes and Winterbottom at bay after the restart, with strong opening stints from their respective co-drivers seeing Greg Murphy, Lee Holdsworth and Alex Davison filling the remainder of the top six.

The front-runners used the race’s second Safety Car on Lap 54 to make their second and final stops, with Lowndes the big loser (falling to 12th place) having been forced to que behind team-mate Whincup.

The five-time Bathurst 1000 winner struggled for speed during the remainder of the race and would eventually finish 20th, thanks in part to a third pitstop for tyres with less than 15 laps remaining.

Jason Bargwanna and Will Davison assumed the top two spots having decided not to pit under the Safety Car, but would find themselves well outside the top 10 by the time they made their final stops on Laps 84 and 87 respectively.

The third stint of the race was all about the battle between Whincup and Winterbottom, with the Ford driver taking more liberties with the kerbing than his rival as he looked for a way by.

Despite encouragement from engineer Mark Dutton to use more kerb on the backstraight chicane, Whincup finally succumbed to the speed of his rival at Turn 11 on Lap 94.

Holdsworth and Murphy fought a similarly spirited battle for third, with the Fujitsu and Pepsi Max backed Commodore trading positions several times over the final 50 laps.

Rick Kelly and Jorg Bergmeister stayed out of trouble to take fifth in the Jack Daniel’s Commodore, while James Courtney had to be content with sixth after co-driver Darren Turner received a contentious kerb hopping drive-through towards the end of his stint.

The Borris Said/Steve Owen, Jan Magnussen/Russell Ingall and Richard Westbrook/Todd Kelly Commodores also received penalties (all three for diving infringements) on their way to seventh, eighth and ninth respectively, while Helio Castroneves and Tim Slade took 10th despite breaking an anti-roll bar early.

Five cars failed to finish the race, with the James Moffat/Joey Hand and Marino Franchitti/Warren Luff entries both enduring mechanical issues.

Team BOC’s day ended thanks to an unfortunate incident with the WesTrac Falcon at Turn 12 – Gianni Morbidelli making head-on contact with the #8 Commodore while looking for a place to turn around following a spin.

The hardest luck story of all belonged to The Bottle-O Racing, which saw its international star Christian Klien make heavy contact with the outside wall at the back chicane following a touch from Jan Magnussen on the opening lap.

Front-row starters Ryan Briscoe and Garth Tander also had a difficult run, with the Toll HRT Commodore breaking an axle during the IndyCar driver’s opening stint. With the offending axle replaced, the pair finished the race 20 laps down in 23rd position.

The combined results from the weekend’s races sees Sebastien Bourdais take the Dan Wheldon Trophy.

The V8 Supercars Championship continues at three weeks time at the Symmons Plains circuit in Tasmania.

See below for the full race result

1 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon M.Winterbottom/R.Lyons Ford Falcon FG 02:14:08.1572 1:11.3618
2 TeamVodafone J.Whincup/S.Bourdais Holden Commodore VE2 02:14:09.7136 1:11.2264
3 Fujitsu Racing GRM L.Holdsworth/S.Pagenaud Holden Commodore VE2 02:14:11.2614 1:11.5300
4 Pepsi Max Crew G.Murphy/O.Gavin Holden Commodore VE2 02:14:16.8560 1:11.4242
5 Jack Daniel’s Racing R.Kelly/J.Bergmeister Holden Commodore VE2 02:14:19.4365 1:11.6639
6 Toll Holden Racing Team J.Courtney/D.Turner Holden Commodore VE2 02:14:20.1081 1:11.4998
7 VIP Petfoods S.Owen/B.Said Holden Commodore VE2 02:14:21.6450 1:11.1808
8 Supercheap Auto Racing R.Ingall/J.Magnussen Holden Commodore VE2 02:14:23.0963 1:11.0795
9 Jack Daniel’s Racing T.Kelly/R.Westbrook Holden Commodore VE2 02:14:23.4926 1:11.3129
10 Lucky 7 Racing T.Slade/H.Castroneves Ford Falcon FG 02:14:23.7146 1:11.4850
11 Stratco Racing D.Reynolds/A.Tagliani Holden Commodore VE2 02:14:25.2390 1:11.4621
12 Jim Beam Racing S.Johnson/D.Mueller Ford Falcon FG 02:14:25.7292 1:11.6283
13 Mother Energy Racing Team J.Webb/G.de Ferran Ford Falcon FG 02:14:25.8078 1:11.3920
14 Trading Post FPR Falcon W.Davison/M.Salo Ford Falcon FG 02:14:27.8610 1:10.0851
15 Bundaberg Racing F.Coulthard/P.Long Holden Commodore VE2 02:14:29.9115 1:10.6150
16 SP Tools Racing S.Van Gisbergen/E.Pirro Ford Falcon FG 02:14:35.2921 1:10.4412
17 Jana Living Racing J.Bargwanna/A.Simonsen Holden Commodore VE2 02:14:47.1937 1:10.6329
18 Irwin Racing A.Davison/M.Lieb Ford Falcon FG 02:14:51.5961 1:11.6034
19 Wilson Security Racing T.D’Alberto/V.Liuzzi Ford Falcon FG 02:14:52.1149 1:10.8161
20 TeamVodafone C.Lowndes/A.Priaulx Holden Commodore VE2 02:15:01.2709 1:11.0606
21 Fujitsu Racing GRM M.Caruso/A.Farfus Jr Holden Commodore VE2 02:14:47.7245 1:11.8587
22 Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing K.Reindler/F.Giovanardi Holden Commodore VE2 02:15:06.6059 1:13.2228
23 Toll Holden Racing Team G.Tander/R.Briscoe Holden Commodore VE2 02:14:27.1564 1:11.5843
DNF Jim Beam Racing J.Moffat/J.Hand Ford Falcon FG 01:54:42.4298 1:11.5764
DNF Westrac Racing D.Fiore/G.Morbidelli Ford Falcon FG 01:10:11.7701 1:13.4850
DNF Team Boc J.Bright/S.Sarrazin Holden Commodore VE2 01:11:49.3570 1:13.0062
DNF Gulf Western Oil Racing Marino Franchitti (GBR) Holden Commodore VE2    39:40.4682 1:14.4973
DNF The Bottle-O Racing Team Paul Dumbrell Ford Falcon FG

 See below for the updated championship points

Pos

Driver Name

Total

1 Jamie Whincup 2517
2 Craig Lowndes 2374
3 Shane van Gisbergen 2009
4 Mark Winterbottom 1966
5 Garth Tander 1956
6 Will Davison 1847
7 Rick Kelly 1845
8 Lee Holdsworth 1590
9 Alex Davison 1535
10 Jason Bright 1519
11 Greg Murphy 1516
12 Steven Johnson 1480
13 Tim Slade 1475
14 Fabian Coulthard 1446
15 James Courtney 1317
16 Michael Caruso 1282
17 Steve Owen 1280
18 Russell Ingall 1196
19 David Reynolds 1192
20 Jason Bargwanna 1154
21 Jonathon Webb 1118
22 James Moffat 1115
23 Todd Kelly 1073
24 Paul Dumbrell 1012
25 Tony D’Alberto 877
26 Karl Reindler 868
27 Dean Fiore 863
28 Warren Luff 654
29 Mark Skaife 532
30 Nick Percat 527
31 Richard Lyons 511
32 Allan Simonsen 509
33 John McIntyre 393
34 Andrew Jones 385
35 Steve Richards 366
36 Cameron McConville 358
37 Luke Youlden 344
38 Andrew Thompson 334
39 Tim Blanchard 288
40 Sebastian Bourdais 288
41 Paul Morris 268
42 Jack Perkins 255
43 Greg Ritter 243
44 Dale Wood 236
45 Marcus Marshall 229
46 Oliver Gavin 222
47 Owen Kelly 220
48 Daniel Gaunt 219
49 Jorg Bergmeister 207
50 Simon Pagenaud 207
51 David Russell 202
52 Shane Price 197
53 Nathan Pretty 192
54 Michael Patrizi 187
55 David Wall 185
56 Darren Turner 165
57 Richard Westbrook 150
58 Gil de Ferran 150
59 Craig Baird 148
60 Boris Said 147
61 Matthew Halliday 137
62 Augusto Farfus Jr 132
63 Jan Magnussen 129
64 Alex Tagliani 120
65 Joey Hand 120
66 Emanuele Pirro 114
67 Dean Canto 109
68 Taz Douglas 93
69 Marc Lieb 87
70 Dirk Muller 69
71 David Besnard 66
72 Christian Klein 60
73 Vitantonio Liuzzi 48
74 Sarrazin Stephane 42
75 Fabrizio Giovanardi 39
76 Marino Franchitti 0
77 Grant Denyer 0
78 Cameron Waters 0

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