Pole man Jamie Whincup burst off the startline and led all 35 laps of Race 17 at the SKYCITY Triple Crown, ahead of his Red Bull teammate.

Craig Lowndes held off a speedy Shane van Gisbergen, who turned his bad run in Perth around to finish on the podium.

“It was a really good start to a big hot weekend, but both cars were good. We made some improvements over the mini-break, which was nice, so hopefully we can keep this momentum through to the end of the year,” Whincup said.

“We were running mid-pack and we had a few up and down rounds – we don’t like that so we’ve really put our heads down and everyone’s done a really good job, actually. We’ve taken a bit of a risk and it’s paid off. Still a long way to go, but certainly an improvement on the start of the year.”

Lowndes admitted he didn’t feel he could catch his teammate, but also has earned valuable points in the Championship, reducing the gap to Championship leader Mark Winterbottom to 83 points.

“I made a mistake in the last corner which damaged the car a little bit, but we just didn’t have the pace of Jamie today,” Lowndes said.

“He got a great start, we managed to get also a good start to get into second… It’s a credit to the team, we’ve had a test day and turned things around.

“As Jamie said, it’s not over, we’ve still got another race and a big one tomorrow so fingers crossed it all goes the same way.”

Van Gisbergen had a laugh about his battle with Lowndes and, earlier, McLaughlin, after his fellow Kiwi was vocal about an exchange in Perth.

“We had a great start, Craig and I moved forward. Had a great battle with Scotty the first lap – didn’t even have to wave my middle finger at him!” van Gisbergen smiled.

“With Craig, I think we were a little bit quicker but he put his car in all the right places. Not blocking but good positioning and it was a great battle, really enjoyed it. There’s another race this arvo… stoked to be on the podium, great day.”

Slow off the start, McLaughlin ran his own race in his Volvo S60 coming home fourth – but it was the battle for fifth that heated up the race in the Top End.

Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander held off Championship leader Mark Winterbottom, the two locked in combat for the second half of the race.

Will Davison suffered from power steering dramas, his Erebus Merc the only casualty of the race.

Robert Dahlgren had a run-in with Dale Wood at the back of the pack, after promising to race harder when talking to v8supercars.com.au earlier today.

After Winterbottom – who finished sixth – it was Jason Bright, James Courtney, Fabian Coulthard and Lee Holdsworth in the top 10, Nissan’s James Moffat just outside in 11th.

Click here for full race results.

The second race of the day kicks off at 4.30pm local time, with Whincup and Lowndes starting on the front row.