V8SC – Winterbottom responds to Holden Red Bull in Darwin

On Saturday, the Holden Commodore of Red Bull Racing Australia's Jamie Whincup, outgoing champion, and Craig Lowndes, crushed the competition at Hidden Valley Raceway. As a result, Lowndes was 65 points behind leader Mark Winterbottom (Ford Pepsi Max Crew). But the latter responded in the best way this Sunday by winning the 200 km race. Starting 10th, Winterbottom had worn soft tires which allowed him to quickly return to the lead while Lowndes, the pole sitter, tumbled down the rankings with his worn hard tires selected at the start. But the intervention of the safety car for Robert Dahlgren's exit ruined Winterbottom's attempt to widen the gap.

Still leader after two thirds of the race, the Ford driver began to struggle with the grip of his worn tires during his second refueling on the 52nd lap. This was taken advantage of by Jamie Whincup (Holden Red Bull) to begin his comeback, he who was on an opposite strategy in terms of tires. But the championship leader would ultimately maintain his position by one breath, ahead of Shane Van Gisbergen (Tekno Autosport), who also came back on Whincup in the last laps to steal second place.

With the poor performance of Lowndes 17th this Sunday after an off-track excursion, Winterbottom increases his lead to 161 points over the Red Bull driver. Whincup took advantage of Fabian Coulthard's (Lockwood) bad race to take 3rd place overall. The V8 Supercar will resume its rights from July 4 to 6 for the Castrol Townsville 500