Mark Winterbottom has won his first V8 Supercars race since the Darwin event in 2014, leading home teammate Chaz Mostert by 1.73sec at the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix.
Winterbottom led from the front over the 12 laps, having broken Ford’s pole position drought yesterday, which stretched back even further to Phillip Island in 2013.
The V8 Supercars kick off with a rolling start at this event, and Winterbottom had the jump early – though there was some chaos in the first lap with Erebus’ Ash Walsh stopping on the circuit and summoning the Safety Car.
Tim Blanchard, Andre Heimgartner and Marcos Ambrose also got together, with Blanchard the hard-luck story of the bunch, unable to contest the race with his LDM Commodore in the garage.
The start wasn’t great for Scott McLaughlin either, who was shuffled back in his Volvo and finished 17th despite a top 10 starting position.
“Good race, we’re learning things,” Winterbottom said.
“It’s good to get a win, it’s been a while – 12 months is a long time in this sport.”
Behind Winterbottom and Mostert was Championship leader James Courtney, the first of the Holdens home.
While the Freightliner racer had a big look at Shane van Gisbergen in the closing stages, van Gisbergen finished fourth ahead of Coulthard, with Jamie Whincup, Tim Slade, Rick Kelly, Garth Tander and Craig Lowndes completing the top 10.
The finishing positions for this race determine where each driver begins the day’s following race – so Winterbottom and Mostert will occupy the front row once again for this evening’s second run, starting at 6.20pm local time.
