Craig Lowndes led home Will Davison in today’s opening leg of the Clipsal 500 Adelaide and the start of a new era for V8 Supercars competition.

Despite the biggest technical upheaval in the history of the series, the 250km race was topped by the same two teams who dominated the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship, Lowndes putting in a crushing display of authority to beat Davison home by more than twenty seconds.

The win was the 90th in Lowndes staggering career, equalling all-time wins record holder Mark Skaife at the top of the table.

Jamie Whincup finished third for Red Bull Racing Australia to complete a 1-3 for the recently rebranded outfit.

A shorter early stint from Lowndes saw him pit early, gain track position, and then dominate the second half of the race – not even losing the lead when he took his second pit stop.

“It’s been sensational,” Lowndes said.

“Its’ been a hell of a Christmas for the team at Red Bull Racing Australia. To get out here in front of the massive crowd is sensational.

“I think (the new car) suits my style a bit better than last year. I can throw it through the corner and look after the tyres. We’ve still got more to come. I can’t say any more – it’s been a hell of a day.

“I can honestly say this is the best COTF car I’ve raced!”

Second-placed Davison also ran a different strategy, working his way forward from the bottom half of the top-10 having started the day in seventh palace.

“I didn’t see Craig the whole race,” he said.

“I was running quite a different strategy. I quite enjoyed it. They told me I was fourth when it thought I was third. This is a good start for FPR. Congrats to every single member of the team. These are tricky cars – but it’s an awesome start.”

Defending champion Jamie Whincup said his car lacked the pace to contend for the victory.

“We didn’t have quite enough speed, but got position when others dropped back,” he said.

“As the race went on I thought we would end up sixth or seventh, so I feel like I’ve stolen a podium today.”

French driver Alex Premat finished a career best fourth in his Fujitsu Racing GRM Holden, with James Courtney fifth.

Scott McLaughlin was another to notch a career best (solo-driving) performance in sixth with Garth Tander, Jonathon Webb, Alex Davison and Russell Ingall completed the Top 10.

Gearbox issues stopped Shane van Gisbergen from finishing his first race in a Holden – but his race had issues before his ultimate lap 62 demise.

A slow start from the Kiwi saw him drop to 10th at the end of the opening lap – though he was able to work his way back into podium contention later in the race before retiring.

Having qualified a brilliant second, Mark Winterbottom’s competitive race lasted until the end of the opening lap, when he pitted from the lead – another with a broken gearbox.

He would later rejoin for several laps at the end of the race, setting the fastest lap a few laps from home.

Fabian Coulthard’s Lockwood Racing Commodore was an early race leader and a podium contender until the final laps, when brake issues slowed his charge and dropped him to an ultimate 19th-place finish.

Rick Kelly was the first Nissan home in 11th, just two seconds outside of the Top-10. Kelly had run inside the Top five during the pit stop sequence. Tim Slade the best of the Erebus Racing E63 AMGs in 15th.

The two new manufacturers experienced mixed days, with Todd Kelly forced out of the race after sixteen laps having trailed oil for several laps prior to its demise, and Michael Caruso sidelined for several laps with a power steering pump issue.

In the Erebus Racing camp, Maro Engel failed to complete the formation lap but would later rejoin and finish the race as the final classified finisher, all three cars making it to the line.

Thirteen cars finished on the lead lap, the race completing its full 78-lap duration Safety Car free for just the third time in event history.

24 of 28 cars were classified as finishers in today’s tough race – one attended by 80,200 people – up more than 2,000 people on last year.

Here are the key moments from today’s Race 1 of the 2013 Clipsal 500 Adelaide.

START – A dramatic opening lap of the 2013 season! Polesitter Shane van Gisbergen stalled at the line and dropped to 10th by the end of the opening lap. FPR driver Mark Winterbottom led most of the way around, but immediately pulled into pit lane at the end of the first lap, handing the lead to Lockwood Racing’s Fabian Coulthard.

At the end of the first lap, Coulthard led Lowndes, Whincup, Webb, Premat, Davison, Courtney, McLaughlin, Ingall and van Gisbergen.

David Reynolds drove into the garage at the end of the formation lap with a broken gearbox mount, whilst Jason Bright pitted his Team BOC Holden at the end of lap two for a seemingly standard pit stop.

Erebus driver Maro Engel’s tough initiation to V8 Supercars failed to even make the formation lap – stopping on the grid before being pushed to the garage and ultimately rejoining two laps into the race.

LAP 5 – Todd Kelly pitted his Jack Daniel’s Racing Nissan with a suspected broken oil line – the car has been trailing smoke behind it for much of the last lap. He rejoins in 25th position, one lap behind.

LAP 9 – Tim Blanchard took the #17 DJR Ford to pit lane after being served into the Turn six barriers by a recovering Todd Kelly.

LAP 10 – Ten laps into the race, and it was Fabian Coulthard leading the race by 1.35s over Craig Lowndes. Jamie Whincup, Will Davison and Jonathon Webb completed the Top 10, with Alex Premat, Shane van Gisbergen, James Courtney, Russell Ingall and Scott McLaughlin finished the Top-10.

LAP 14 – Ingall is passed by Scott McLaughlin and Garth Tander – the Supercheap Auto car moved out of the way for both without much of a fight. Replays showed that Ingall clouted the fence at Turn 12 and lost momentum to the cars behind.

Michael Caruso in the Norton 360 Racing Nissan is the first to take his compulsory pit stop.

LAP 16 – Jamie Whincup and Jonathon Webb, 3rd and 4th, pit to make their first compulsory pit stops. Dean Fiore also stopped his Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Holden.

LAP 18 – Garth Tander pitted his Holden Racing Team Commodore for his first compulsory pit stop.
Todd Kelly is shown a mechanical blag flag for his ongoing smoke issues – he’ll need to pit again.

Tim Blanchard – one lap down – turns Scott Pye around at the turn 9 hairpin.

LAP 19 – Scott McLaughlin pits car #33 from 8th place.

LAP 20 – Lowndes, having trailed by 1.5 seconds earlier in the race, now runs just 0.5s behind leader Coulthard as the two Holden’s battle for the race lead.

James Courtney pits the #22 Holden Racing Team Commodore from within the Top 10. Meanwhile, Scott McLaughlin holds out a concerted Garth Tander attack in a fight between two cars that have already made a pit stop.

LAP 21 – Alex Premat pits from the Top five. Coulthard continues to lead Lowndes, with Davson, van Gisbergen, Ingall, Rick Kelly, Alex Davison, Scott Pye, James Moffat and Tony D’Alberto.

Lee Holdsworth is the first of the Erebus Racing Mercedes E63 AMGs.

Jamie Whincup is the first car to have completed his first compulsory pit stop, in 12th position.

LAP 22 – Holdsworth pits from 11th with the Mercedes running reliably so far. James Moffat also pits his Norton 360 Nissan – he emerges right behind his teammate, Michael Caruso, has already stopped.

Holdsworth has some serious heat issues in his car, with his shoes badly burned and being taped up by his mechanics during the pit stop. They’ve ‘insulated’ his boots with some thick material to try and protect them a bit better.

LAP 24 – Lowndes pits #888 from second, and emerges in front of Whincup by 7.9seconds – so Lowndes gains ground in the stops.

LAP 25 – Coulthard, the leader, stops from the lead. Van Gisbergen and Russell Ingall both pit from well within the Top-10. It’s a solid stop for the Lockwood Racing team but it’s not good enough – because Coulthard is now 7 seconds down the road and has been passed by Jamie Whincup for third (on corrected time) as well.

LAP 29 – Will Davison leads the race however is the only driver on the lead lap to not have stopped to this point in the race. Lowndes is second whilst Fabian Coulthard is attacking Jamie Whincup for what will ultimately become second and third.

LAP 30 – Dean Fiore’s DODO Commodore has substantial damage after contact – all on his own – with the wall at turn four.

LAP 32 – Will Davison pitted his #6 FPR Ford from the lead. A long stop for Davison – filling the car to the brim. He emerges in 10th position and Craig Lowndes becomes the new race leader, heading his teammate by 13 seconds.

LAP 36 – With the first round of compulsory pit stops having been completed, it was a dominant Craig Lowndes leading the way as the race approached half-distance.

Whincup was 14 seconds behind, holding out a battling Coulthard and van Gisbergen in a battle for third. Jonathon Webb ran fifth, with Alex Premat, James Courtney, Scott McLaughlin, Garth Tander and Will Davison completed the Top-10.

Jason Bright, Russell Ingall, Rick Kelly, Alex Davison, Tony D’Alberto, James Moffat, Michael Caruso, Scott Pye, David Wall and Tim Slade filled positions 11-20.

Lee Holdsworth, Jonny Reid, Dean Fiore, Tim Blanchard and David Reynolds completed the runners, with Maro Engel, Todd Kelly and Mark Winterbottom out of the race.

LAP 42 – Jason Bright pitted #8 from 11th position. Bright stopped on lap two – the first to take a compulsory pit stop.

Bright had a slow entry to the lane having overshot the pit lane hairpin.

LAP 45 – Fabian Coulthard passed Jamie Whincup for second position.

Almost immediately, Whincup pitted the #1 Red Bull Holden for his second compulsory pit stop.

LAP 47 – Coulthard and Webb pit for their final stops. Fabs emerges several seconds up the road from Jamie Whincup, who stopped on the lap prior.

LAP 48 – van Gisbergen pits the VIP Holden from fourth place for his final stop. McLaughlin and Tander also pit for their final stops. Van Gisbergen emerges in front of Jamie Whincup – a change of position.

Lap 50 – Premat pits from third on the road.

LAP 52 – Craig Lowndes stopped #888 from the race lead. A long stop – he needed a full tank of fuel to get to the finish from here.

Will Davison also went off of his existing long-running strategy, electing to cover Lowndes, but at the cost of track position.

Davison emerged behind Jonathon Webb for 6th position, whilst Lowndes returned to the track in the race lead. The strategy worked perfectly for Craig Lowndes – track position and clear running was everything.

LAP 54 – Some 51 laps from the lead, Mark Winterbottom returned to the circuit for a systems check, his team having replaced the gearbox on the #5 Pepsi Max Crew Ford.

LAP 58 – Jonathon Webb jumps the Kerb at turn two for the third time this race – one more and he will be penalised.

LAP 60 – Team BOC push Jason Bright into the garage with issues on the right-front corner of his Commodore.

LAP 61 – Will Davison passes Jamie Whincup for fourth and fifth position.

LAP 62 – Jonathon Webb crashes all on his own in turn 4, sticking the car into the tyres. He drops right of the top-10. Big impact. The following lap Webb kerb hops at Turn 2, and will receive a penalty for overuse of the kerb.

LAP 64 – Shane van Gisbergen makes an unscheduled pit stop from third position and drives straight into the Tekno Garage. In the space of one lap Tekno has gone from two cars in the Top six – to none.

Gearbox issues for SVG.

Lowndes leads Coulthard by 20 seconds, with Will Davison third and Jamie Whincup fourth. Alex Premat sits fifth.

LAP 65 – Fabian Coulthard drops from second to fourth, elevating Will Davison to second and Jamie Whincup to third. He ran up the escape road at Turn 4.

LAP 67 – struggling, Coulthard is relieved of fourth place by Fujitsu Racing’s Alex Premat. Coulthard then limps down Brabham straight and is slipping down the order with what sounds like brake issues.

LAP 68 – Race officials elect to withdraw the black flag for Jonathon Webb, removing one of his turn one kerb infringements. He remains eighth.

With 10 laps remaining, Lowndes leads, Davison, Whincup, Premat, Courtney, McLaughlin, Tander, Webb, Alex Davison and Russell Ingall.

LAP 75 – Craig Lowndes leading by 24 seconds and looking for his 90th career win – equalling his former Holden and Triple Eight teammate Mark Skaife at the top of the all-time wins list.

LAP 76 – the race has gone Safety-car free to this point. If it remains caution-free, it will only be the third time in history that has happened in a Clipsal 500 race.

Meanwhile, Scott McLaughlin is attacking James Courtney for fifth position.

LAP 78 – Lowndes crosses the line to win.

Lowndes wins race 1, McLaughlin highest Kiwi