Winterbottom wins controversial Surfers race

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.

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