A damp track made for a thrilling opening few laps, the lead changing hands on a number of occasions.

Jamie Whincup was the first to have a go out front, after beating polesitter van Gisbergen into the first corner. Chaz Mostert, who also got by van Gisbergen on the first lap, then charged past Whincup on Lap 2.

Van Gisbergen followed Mostert through into second, and made a serious play for the lead on the way into the final corner on the second lap. But Mostert got the better drive onto the front straight allowing him to immediately reclaim the lead.

A lap later there was more action at the last turn, Mostert running across the grass after momentarily losing control of his Walkinshaw Holden. He managed to gather it up without losing his lead, and was given a reprieve a few corners later when the safety car was called to collect Macauley Jones' broken Holden.

The Lap 7 restart went perfectly for van Gisbergen, the Kiwi sliding down the inside of Mostert at the first corner. He then charged away, gapping Mostert by over two seconds before the track started to dry out.

Third-Cam Waters was the first of the lead pack to switch to slicks on Lap 20, followed by van Gisbergen and Mostert a lap later. While van Gisbergen re-emerged with his healthy lead in tact, Mostert had to yield second place to Waters.

There was no stopping van Gisbergen across the second stint, the Kiwi cruising to his second win of the weekend with a 12 second advantage.

"It was awesome," he said.

"I had a good battle with Chaz [at the start] and when the safety car came out I pulled up beside him and we did the thumbs up each other. Pretty cool.

"Once it dried up my car got better and better. I must have had a little less tyre pressure, which explains why he was so good on the first lap."

The battle for second was a nail biter to the end.

At first it was Waters and Mostert locked in a tense fight across the second stint, Mostert looking slightly quicker but Waters with the critical track position.

With two laps to go the fight got physical, Mostert tagging Waters on the way into Turn 1. That sent the Tickford Mustang into a spin, Mostert slowing to immediately redress the situation.

 

That brought Andre Heimgartner and Whincup into the equation, the foursome scrapping over position through the Turns 2-4 complex.

Initially it was Heimgartner that got into third, only for another Turn 1 passing move from Mostert to go wrong. Contact between the pair sent Heimgartner wide, Whincup sneaking through for third place as Mostert and Heimgartner settled for fourth and fifth.

Nick Percat finished a solid sixth ahead of James Courtney, Scott Pye, Tim Slade and Will Davison.

Race results: