Will Davison led a Ford Performance Racing one-two in the first Townsville V8 Supercars race after a late pursuit of Craig Lowndes.
Triple 8 had struggled in qualifying on hard tyres, with Lowndes only 12th on the grid and his championship-leading teammate Jamie Whincup back in 16th. It therefore gambled on putting Lowndes on soft tires for the first stint, making him unique in the field.
Davison stormed through to first within 10 laps, and by the half-distance pit stops his lead was 21 seconds. At that stage his main rival was Shane van Gisbergen. The Tekno driver had taken pole, lost out to Davison off the line, then dived back past the Ford in a final-corner move that let Fabian Coulthard through as well.
Davison soon repassed the Brad Jones Holden, but van Gisbergen inched away. Then it all fell apart at the Tekno pit stop. Van Gisbergen was accidentally short-fueled and also incurred a penalty for coming off the jacks with the fuel hose still attached. A likely win became a 17th-place finish.
Davison and teammate Mark Winterbottom therefore led the chase of Lowndes, now the only man on hards. The leader’s big cushion soon fell away, with Davison taking the lead 13 laps from the end and Winterbottom soon following.
Coulthard had lost out to Winterbottom when the FPR car took softs a few laps early, but passed Lowndes to claim the final podium spot.
Lowndes hung on ahead of Jason Bright and James Courtney to retain fourth. Whincup fought through to seventh.
Results - 70 laps:Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Will Davison FPR Ford 1h28m39.5967s 2. Mark Winterbottom FPR Ford +4.0098s 3. Fabian Coulthard Brad Jones Holden +15.4676s 4. Craig Lowndes Triple 8 Holden +17.7900s 5. Jason Bright Brad Jones Holden +19.3146s 6. James Courtney HRT Holden +26.6021s 7. Jamie Whincup Triple 8 Holden +30.0030s 8. Garth Tander HRT Holden +32.3723s 9. Alex Davison Schwerkolt/FPR Ford +32.8526s10. Chaz Mostert Dick Johnson Ford +37.7396s11. David Reynolds Rod Nash/FPR Ford +37.9882s12. Rick Kelly Nissan +48.7332s13. Alexandre Premat GRM Holden +50.5834s14. Scott McLaughlin GRM Holden +51.6499s15. James Moffat Nissan +58.0549s16. Todd Kelly Nissan +1m02.1387s17. Shane van Gisbergen Tekno Holden +1m03.1458s18. Michael Caruso Nissan +1m08.3986s19. Maro Engel Erebus Mercedes +1m12.0292s20. Dean Fiore Dumbrell Holden +1 lap21. David Wall Britek/BJR Holden +2 laps22. Jonathon Webb Tekno Holden +2 laps23. Tim Blanchard Dick Johnson Ford +2 laps24. Scott Pye Dumbrell Holden +2 laps25. Tony D'Alberto D'Alberto Holden +4 lapsRetirements: Russell Ingall Walkinshaw/HRT Holden 53 laps Lee Holdsworth Erebus Mercedes 52 laps Tim Slade Rosenberg/Erebus Mercedes 34 laps
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