Winterbottom holds off Mostert for Race 7 win

Mark Winterbottom secured Prodrive’s first V8 Supercars Championship race win of the season by holding off team-mate Chaz Mostert in the opening heat at Barbagallo.

Winterbottom beat his pole-sitting team-mate to the first corner and was not headed for the remainder of the 25 laps.

Mostert appeared the quicker of the two for much of the run but never made a serious passing attempt, eventually taking the flag 0.6s adrift in second.

“My car was actually struggling a bit,” admitted Winterbottom afterward.

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“Chaz had the quicker car but I managed to get him off the line.

“We will need to tune it up now but to get a one-two is just awesome.”

Craig Lowndes completed the podium from Shane van Gisbergen, Jason Bright and David Reynolds in a largely uneventful race among the front-runners.

It was a tough afternoon for the Holden Racing Team, with Garth Tander retiring from fourth in the early stages due to a problem with his Commodore’s left-rear suspension.

Team-mate James Courtney held sixth for much of the race before falling back to 10th by the flag as his tyres faded.

Courtney’s race had also included early contact with Reynolds on the back straight as the Ford driver attempted to follow Bright through on the HRT entry.

Reynolds momentarily took to the inside grass during the battle, but managed to escape without damage.

Walkinshaw stable-mate Tim Slade dropped from eighth to 16th with a late off at Turn 1, compounding the factory team’s struggles.

Jamie Whincup found it tough going from 21st on the grid, rising to just 15th by the flag.

The Red Bull Holden driver will join pole-sitter Winterbottom on the front-row for the afternoon’s second 25 lap heat.

V8 Supercars Championship Race 7, Barbagallo

1	Pepsi Max Crew	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	25	24:36.1409
2	Pepsi Max Crew	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	25	24:36.7337
3	Red Bull Racing Australia	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	25	24:39.0974
4	Team Darrell Lea STIX	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	25	24:44.9374
5	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	25	24:45.3156
6	The Bottle-O Racing Team	David Reynolds	Ford Falcon FG/X	25	24:46.2600
7	Erebus Motorsport V8	Will Davison	Mercedes E63 AMG	25	24:49.1140
8	Freightliner Racing	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore VF	25	24:52.4445
9	Nissan Motorsport	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	25	24:54.1019
10	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	25	24:54.6180
11	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Volvo S60	25	24:56.0444
12	Nissan Motorsport	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	25	25:00.4572
13	Nissan Motorsport	James Moffat	Nissan Altima	25	25:01.1844
14	Walkinshaw Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	25	25:01.3847
15	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	25	25:01.7223
16	Supercheap Auto Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	25	25:02.7632
17	Erebus Motorsport V8	Ashley Walsh	Mercedes E63 AMG	25	25:03.6751
18	Nissan Motorsport	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	25	25:04.0231
19	Repair Management Aust Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	25	25:04.3282
20	Team Cooldrive	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	25	25:05.2681
21	Super Black Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Falcon FG/X	25	25:05.7559
22	DJR Team Penske	Scott Pye	Ford Falcon FG/X	25	25:06.6613
23	Wilson Security Racing GRM	David Wall	Volvo S60	25	25:07.3781
24	GB Galvanizing Racing	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	25	25:07.7948
DNF	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	7	6:52.7184