Motorsport: Winterbottom wins final in thrilling finish

Mark Winterbottom driver of the #5 Orrcon Steel FPR Ford celebrates after winning race six of the V8 Supercar Championship Series. Photo / Getty Images.

A bold start propelled Ford's Mark Winterbottom to his first win of the V8 Supercar series.

Winterbottom beat defending champion Jamie Whincup's Holden in the final race of the Hamilton 400 by just two tenths of a second.

Series leader Will Davison was third in a Falcon, ahead of Whincup's Team Vodafone Holden teammate Craig Lowndes.

Winterbottom started the 59-lap from second on the grid with Davison on pole but snatched the lead as the lights went out and headed the field into turn one.

Whincup, third on the grid, made an uncharacteristically sluggish start to drop to seventh before fighting his way up to second after a round of pit stops.

Garth Tander, third in his Holden in Saturday's opening race, dropped out of contention after a collision with Tony D'Alberto's Falcon.

A safety car resulted to clean up the debris while Tander limped back to the pits, his race over.

After the restart, Winterbottom sped away from Davison, followed by Lowndes and Whincup.

Davison, winner of three races this season, including Saturday's first race in Hamilton, then took over third from Lowndes.

Winterbottom won two of the three non-championship races at the Australian Grand Prix meeting last month.

-AAP