Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom continued his session-topping performances with victory in race one of the Nikon SuperGP at Surfers Paradise.
Apart from a brief break during the compulsory pit stops, Winterbottom led from start to finish, keeping a small margin over second-place finisher Garth Tander throughout the race, Tander's Holden Racing Team teammate finishing just behind in third.
Davison's race, however, wasn't without incident. At the start, having already passed Bright, Davison went in extremely deep into the first chicane, getting alongside Whincup who had taken the defensive line.
The two cars made contact after Davison's decision to go in so deep meant he only just made the corner, leaving Whincup with little room on what was now the outside. Whincup managed to win out but Davison went in deep again at the second chicane and took the place, running a little wide as he did so, the two cars making contact again.
Contact further back led to a safety car, the race restarting on lap four. At the first chicane, having made a good restart, Whincup dived down the inside of Davison into the first chicane. But again, Davison was alongside and the two cars made contact once more. Davison moved ahead while Whincup made a slower exit, Jason Bright looking to his outside, while Paul Dumbrell looked to his inside.
With the second chicane approaching quickly, Whincup moved out a little towards the wall, unaware of Bright's presence to his outside. The two cars made contact, Bright bounced off the wall, bouncing back into Whincup's car.
Both cars suffered with flat tyres and bodywork damage, Bright also losing his power steering. Whincup was able to continue, but dropped to 27th after replacing the tire. He still had good speed however, recovering to 13th place by race's end.
Whincup's teammate finished the race just behind Davison in fourth, while Shane van Gisbergen put in a fantastic drive to leap up from 18th on the grid to finish fifth. Sixth was Sprint Gas's Greg Murphy, while seventh was a little disappointing for Winterbottom's teammate Steven Richards, having run in fourth place before losing out at the final restart with three laps remaining.
That safety car came out after both Garry Rogers Motorsport cars of Michael Caruso and Lee Holdsworth ended up in the tires at the first chicane in separate incidents.
Paul Dumbrell, Russell Ingall and Steven Johnson completed the top ten, with Johnson's teammate James Courtney failing to finish after a suspected tire issue cost him place and positions, and then got caught wide at the first chicane and got stuck in the tires.
Pos Driver Make Time
1. Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon FG 1:16:43.8908
2. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VE + 1.2852
3. Will Davison Holden Commodore VE + 2.4225
4. Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon FG + 3.0847
5. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford Falcon FG + 4.3511
6. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VE + 5.2521
7. Steven Richards Ford Falcon FG + 6.1165
8. Paul Dumbrell Holden Commodore VE + 7.9264
9. Russell Ingall Holden Commodore VE + 8.1089
10. Steven Johnson Ford Falcon FG + 8.5991
11. Jason Bargwanna Holden Commodore VE + 9.3875
12. Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VE + 9.7950
13. Jamie Whincup Ford Falcon FG + 11.3982
14. Jack Perkins Holden Commodore VE + 11.6284
15. David Reynolds Holden Commodore VE + 13.1171
16. Alex Davison Ford Falcon FG + 13.5828
17. Tim Slade Holden Commodore VE + 14.2992
18. Cameron McConville Holden Commodore VE + 14.8025
19. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VE + 14.9823
20. Tony D'Alberto Holden Commodore VE + 15.6291
21. Mark McNally Holden Commodore VE + 22.6760
22. Michael Patrizi Ford Falcon BF + 2 laps
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Make Laps
James Courtney Ford Falcon FG 31
Lee Holdsworth Holden Commodore VE 27
Michael Caruso Holden Commodore VE 27
Fabian Coulthard Ford Falcon FG 14
Dean Fiore Holden Commodore VE 13
Jason Bright Ford Falcon FG 5
Jason Richards Holden Commodore VE 0