Motorsport: Winterbottom on top in Gold Coast

Richard Lyons and Mark Winterbottom celebrate winning race two of the V8 Supercars Gold Coast 600. Photo / Getty Images

Ford's Mark Winterbottom won Sunday's V8 Supercar race at the Gold Coast but it was Holden's Jamie Whincup who could have sealed his third driver's championship with a brilliant weekend's racing.

Whincup, Saturday's dominant race winner with French co-driver Sebastien Bourdais, finished second behind Winterbottom in Sunday's 300km event on the streets of Surfers Paradise.

And while Winterbottom was delighted to pick up his first win of the season, Whincup was just as jubilant as he finished the weekend 143 points ahead of team-mate Craig Lowndes in the championship standings with six races remaining.

Lowndes, who failed to finish Saturday's race, had another day to forget as he limped home in 20th position to end a weekend which may have cost him his chance at a fourth title.

"It's unbelievable how things can turn around in just a couple of weeks,'' Whincup said.

"I was fairly down in the dumps after Bathurst. This weekend was about coming here and having fun on the streets of the Gold Coast.

"We had a great weekend.''

Winterbottom denied it becoming a perfect weekend when he passed Whincup for the lead on the 94th of 102 laps and went on to claim what he hoped was a turning point in his Ford Performance Racing outfit's performance.

"That's how I have to race the rest of the year,'' Winterbottom said.

"It's about trying to win races and they're (Whincup) at the front of the championship but he always races hard.

"It was always going to be a hard battle but we weren't going to let it go, this win's important.''

While that pair were battling at the front of the pack, it was the middle of the field where controversy reigned as a system designed to prevent drivers from cutting corners was turned off and several cars then took liberties on the two chicanes at the course.

It left Lowndes' British co-driver Andy Priaulx fuming as he tried to avoid penalty while those around him skirted with the rules.

TeamVodafone principal Roland Dane blasted the scenario, saying it had been embarrassing for the championship.

"I thought it was a shame really that what started off as a very good motor race where everyone knew the race-track they were driving on suddenly without our knowledge got changed into another race-track,'' Dane told AAP.

"To be honest I'm ashamed of the way we handled it as a sport.''

Despite his team-mate's struggles however, Whincup was refusing to discount the 37-year-old from bouncing back at the next round in Tasmania from November 11-13.

"It's not a commanding lead, without doubt,'' Whincup said.

"We've still got three rounds to go and we're going to have to keep our head down because you know what Lowndesy's like, he fights back hard.''

- AAP