Ford’s Mark Winterbottom has broken through for his first V8 Supercars race win in more than 12 months.
In a tumultuous season for the 32-year-old, he took the chequered flag at Hidden Valley in Darwin on Sunday in a comfortable victory by 6.01sec ahead of Holden pair James Courtney and Craig Lowndes.
It was his first triumph since Phillip Island in Tasmania in May last year.
Starting from second on the grid, Winterbottom overtook Holden’s pole-sitter James Courtney on lap seven of 35 and stayed calm to deliver only the second victory of the season for his Ford Performance Racing (FPR) team.
It was also some redemption from Saturday, when Winterbottom shoved fellow Ford driver David Reynolds off the road as they fought for second spot and both battled home well outside the top 10.
Winterbottom’s FPR teammate Will Davison was fourth, followed by Jamie Whincup, Jonathon Webb, Fabian Coulthard and Shane van Gisbergen.
Winterbottom has been continually frustrated over the first five rounds of the year to leave him in the unfamiliarly low position of ninth in the championship.
He’s endured pit stop struggles, gear box failures, shredded tyres and a few memorable high-speed panel-to-panel clashes with fierce Holden rival Jamie Whincup.
But on a circuit where he’s claimed two previous wins in 2008 and 2010, Winterbottom’s victory came as the field tries to reel in series leader Whincup.
The Red Bull Racing star had opened up a gap of more than 200 points to second-placed Lowndes at the top of the series standings after Saturday’s victory.
The third and final race of the weekend will be another 100km battle starting at 3.45pm local time (4.15pm AEST).
Reynolds will start from pole where he’ll be hoping for more luck than Saturday’s race.
After claiming just his second career pole, the Ford Falcon driver led at the halftime break, but was passed by Whincup straight after the restart.
He was then nudged by Ford teammate Winterbottom in the fight for second spot and finished a disappointing 14th.
Lowndes will join him on the front row with Courtney and Scott McLaughlin behind.