Holden veteran Craig Lowndes has made the most of Gold Coast shocker for teammate Jamie Whincup to snatch the V8 Supercars championship lead.

Lowndes leapt to the top of the standings after winning an incident-packed 300km race, while four-time champion Whincup failed to finish in a potentially decisive day.

The three-time champion won his first race at Surfers Paradise on Saturday since 2005 to move nine points ahead of Whincup with five races left in the year.

Ford’s Mark Winterbottom consolidated his Bathurst 1000 victory to finish third behind Shane van Gisbergen and sits just 49 points off the lead.

Whincup’s horror Saturday began when he was penalised for causing a red flag during the morning’s qualifying session and forced to start the race in a lowly 25th.

He handed the driving duties over to co-driver Paul Dumbrell only to watch helpless from the pits when Dumbrell ran into the rear of Greg Murphy’s Holden.

Dumbrell limped the stricken Commodore into the pits but, two laps after returning to the race, it was out and Whincup’s day was over without him racing a single lap.

Four-time Bathurst winner Murphy was fuming over the incident, which came as he was seeking redemption following his mistake at Bathurst which effectively ended co-driver James Courtney’s championship hopes.

The day didn’t get any better for Holden Racing Team when their second car, piloted by Garth Tander, suffered a mechanical issue when in contention for the lead and dropped out of the hunt, eventually finishing eighth.

Winterbottom’s teammate Will Davison, the fourth man in the championship hunt, finished ninth and remains an outside chance for the title if the leaders keep tripping up.

The Gold Coast 600 continues with another 300km race on Sunday.