Fabian Coulthard has led from start to finish to win the first race of the V8 Supercars round at Winton in Victoria on Saturday.

While it was plain sailing for Coulthard’s pacy Holden, there was a series of retirements and three safety cars in an action-packed race.

Coulthard survived attacks off each restart from Scott Van Gisbergen, who finished second while Dale Wood earned his first podium with third place.

It completed a cleansweep of the podium for Holden while Jason Bright was fourth and the Mercedes of Lee Holdsworth and Will Davison had another good race, finishing fifth and sixth.

Championship hopefuls Scott McLaughlin and James Courtney were amongst the casualties.

McLaughlin’s breakdown after a lengthy spell in the pits brought the afternoon’s first safety car.

The restart brought carnage, with Courtney and Tim Slade forced out by turn two.

Ford’s Chaz Mostert took an inside route on turn one, but his re-entry caused chaos, pushing the two Holdens off the track.

Courtney lost his bumper in his excursion while Slade went into the wall at low speed, calling the safety car into action again.

A third outing was needed when the engine of Todd Kelly’s Nissan appeared to die, causing a dangerous bank-up of cars.

Coulthard is now second in the championship standings behind Craig Lowndes.

Russell Ingall was set to be a chief beneficiary of the safety cars after opting for new tyres and motoring through the field up to third.

But his aggressive driving cost him, suffering a drive-through penalty for turning around David Wall and finishing tenth.

He attacked officials for the punishment, saying fans would be displeased with the ruling.

Saturday’s second race begins at 4:30pm AEDT.