Motorsport: Winterbottom closes gap

Mark Winterbottom extended his V8 Supercars winning streak. Photo / Getty

Mark Winterbottom closed the gap on championship leader Craig Lowndes with a win and podium finish on the opening day of V8 Supercars racing in Winton today.

The Ford driver is now just nine points behind his Holden rival, who struggled to keep pace on the tight circuit.

Winterbottom was runner-up to his Prodrive Racing Australia team-mate Chaz Mostert in the first of the day's two 20-lap races, but got the better of him in the second to claim the victory.

Mostert had been quickest up to that point - topping the practice timesheets on Friday, securing pole position for both sprints, and then winning the first. He finished third in race two.

"[The weekend] is going good," Winterbottom said. "We have to try to maximise days when Triple Eight are having bad ones, they don't have many. Any win in a V8 Supercar is special."

Lowndes finished 12th in both races, but kept hold of his title lead. Red Bull Racing Australia team-mate Jamie Whincup made up some ground, his ninth and sixth placings shooting him up from fifth to third on the overall standings.

It was a horror afternoon, however, for the Holden Racing Team, whose two lead drivers James Courtney and Garth Tander collided on the opening lap of race two.

Courtney, in his 300th start in V8 Supercars, lunged into Tander and sent them both off-track, collecting innocent passers-by Lee Holdsworth and James Moffat in the process.

Courtney began the day in second on the drivers' standings, but ended it in fourth.
Volvo's Scott McLaughlin, who started and finished last in race one, bounced back with a ninth-place in race two.

Fellow Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen was eighth and fifth and sits sixth on the overall standings, one place behind Fabian Coulthard, who was sixth and 21st today.

The round will wrap up with a 67-lap race tomorrow afternoon.

-AAP