Davison hunts down Lowndes for win-945

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.