Jamie Whincup came through from ninth on the grid to narrowly beat Triple Eight teammate Craig Lowndes and complete a double victory in the V8 Supercars' Townsville weekend.
The reigning champion only made quiet progress in the opening stint, as polesitter David Reynolds in the Rod Nash/Ford Performance Racing car fended off FPR's Mark Winterbottom at the front.
By the middle of the race, FPR trio Reynolds, Winterbottom and Will Davison were leading Lowndes and Whincup in a tense five-car train. Whincup was able to slip past Lowndes when his team-mate accidentally triggered the pitlane speed limiter, and then got involved in a place-swapping dice with Davison.
The final pit stops proved critical. Lowndes jumped Winterbottom as both stopped on lap 42. Then one lap later Reynolds, Whincup and Davison came in as one, with Triple Eight vaulting Whincup to the head of the pack as he rejoined just in front of Lowndes and Davison, with Winterbottom and Reynolds falling to fourth and fifth.
The Triple Eight duo then pulled clear, and with no team orders, Lowndes made concerted efforts to grab the lead. Twice he managed to get ahead only for Whincup to repass on the corner exit. The final 1.8-second victory margin was the biggest the gap had been for many laps.
Davison held third, while a late charge took Garth Tander (Holden Racing Team) past Reynolds and Winterbottom into fourth.
Tekno's Jonathon Webb and Tander's teammate James Courtney were the only two to run soft tires in the first stint and led, but fell back to eighth and 15th respectively. Shane van Gisbergen charged up from 17th to seventh for Stone Brothers.
Jacques Villeneuve made the finish this time for Kelly Racing, a lap down in 24th.