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BATHURST - Triple Eight Racing drivers Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup secured a dramatic second successive victory in the Bathurst 1000 at Mt Panorama yesterday.
Ford Performance Racing's Steven Richards and Mark Winterbottom looked certain to triumph, and the Falcon of Steven Johnson and Will Davison took a late lead.
But it was Lowndes who pulled offa heroic drive to take the chequered flag.
In a Ford one-two-three, Stone Brothers Racing's James Courtney and David Besnard escaped the bedlam to finish second, while Johnson and Davison were third.
FPR were in control until Winterbottom speared off at The Chase with 13 laps to go, giving Triple Eight the lead.
Whincup had earlier looked to have thrown it all away, when right on FPR's hammer with less than 30 laps to go, he shocked the crowd by losing control entering the pits, costing Triple Eight crucial seconds. Lowndes recovered, only for Johnson to regain the lead briefly on lap 154.
But Lowndes went back in front moments later and held on for one of the great Bathurst wins.
Richards had earlier broken Mark Skaife's 2005 lap record by less than a tenth of a second with a 2m 08.5580s scorcher as he and Whincup battled for top spot, before the latter recorded a lap of 2m 08.4651s.
But on lap 134, 24-year-old Whincup made what looked like one of the most costly mistakes of his career.
"It was a race in the pits and I knew we had to have a quick one but I just pushed it too hard," said a clearly shattered Whincup, although it mattered little in the end.
In a horror day for Holden, Whincup and Lowndes moved into the overall championship lead.
The highly fancied Toll HSV Dealer pairing of Rick Kelly and Garth Tander did not finish after failing to overcome a rear brake problem which peppered them all day, giving Whincup the championship lead.
Whincup, who trailed by 54 points going in, now leads by 18, with Lowndes second a further 16 points back.
"We're going to have to fight really hard to get back into the championship from here," said Kelly.
It was Lowndes' third title, to go with his emotional win last year and his maiden victory 10 years before that in a Holden with Greg Murphy who was fourth yesterday.
AAP
