Cam Waters has won the first race of the weekend at Winton in a last-lap battle with Shane van Gisbergen.
Waters got off the line better than pole-sitter van Gisbergen though it was Will Brown coming from the second row that had the best start.
Brown looked to dive between Waters and van Gisbergen, but as the gap closed he went around the outside of the corner, taking second briefly before van Gisbergen retook the position, while Chaz Mostert slotted into fourth.
By the end of the opening lap Waters had built a second lead over the field.
Andre Heimgartner lost two positions early in the race dropping back to 11th.
Mark Winterbottom had a difficult start to the race with an issue causing the car to shut off on the opening lap, dropping him to last before he could get back going.
The first of the pit stops came on lap 6 but it wasn’t until lap 14 that the first of the leaders pitted.
Brown was the first of the lead group to stop though it wasn’t smooth with the rear tyre not going on well, the car dropping and Brown attempting to leave without the tyre properly on the car.
The issue dropped Brown back in the pack before he also recieving a pit lane penalty for the unsafe rotating wheel during the pit stop.
Van Gisbergen made his stop the lap after Brown, with Waters stopping a lap later on lap 16.
Van Gisbergen was close behind Waters as he came out of the pits, with the Kiwi on warmer tyres, but he couldn’t quite make a move for the effective race lead.
Reynolds sat third with a few laps remaining when his team began talking about fuel saving.
The gap between leader Waters and van Gisbergen would fluctuate through the second half of the race, with the gap closing right up on the last lap as the kiwi tried to take the lead.
The pair made contact on the final turn, which would break the steering arm on SVG’s car.
Waters crossed the line in the lead with van Gisbergen making it across the line in second, ahead of Reynolds.
Despite losing a few places early on Heimgartner would move back up finishing 9th, while fellow Kiwi Chris Pither crossed the line 26th.
Main image: Tickford Racing social media
