This was originally posted here on Richard’s F1!
Will Davison and Mika Salo took out race 2 today at the ArmorAll Gold Coast 600, ending Team Vodafone’s 11 race winning streak and giving Ford Performance Racing its first win since May.
The duo’s off sequence strategy with an early pit stop due to a flat spot worked out in their favour and eventually won them the race.
The TeamVodafone pair in Jamie Whincup and Sebastien Bourdais came in second and Winterbottom and Power bookended the podium for FPR in third.
Davison came back from a prematurely ending run yesterday to complete an accident-free run to the top of the podium. Things weren’t boding well for Davison initially, with the Falcon locking up on only the third lap, but the run was salvaged when the car pitted during the safety car’s appearance during lap 13. Subsequently, Will’s co-driver Mika Salo completed a longer run than most – 56 laps – but that, and taking advantage of the safety car worked in FPR’s favour. Davison was pleased with the result:
“It is fantastic to get another win as it feels like so long since my last one. I actually had to fight much harder than I thought as Tim (Slade) came out in front of me after the last stop which I hadn’t thought of. Once I got past him I had to press on but also try and conserve my tyres which thankfully I had the car to do it with really easily.
"We were under a lot of pressure and Mika did such an amazing job so I am really happy for him that we finally got our win here. I let us down yesterday but we made up for it today.”
Mika Salo echoed his co-driver’s comments.
“It’s great. I got a surfboard last year so now we’ve got the first place one to take home too. Yesterday was bad luck, it was good to bounce back today.
Whincup's performance was quite similar to last year where the pair also collected a win and a second place after two pole positions. Co-driver Bourdais was awarded the Dan Wheldon memorial trophy again this year for his efforts.
In fourth place came the Lucky 7 Racing Ford of Tim Slade and David Brabham who competed solidly throughout the race. Their early pitting saw them take the lead with a fifth of the race to go however their pace wasn’t quite enough to hold the more competitive rivals off. A good result regardless for the pair.
"We lead for quite a few laps and really that was all to do with the strategy that Wes (McDougall, engineer) and Luke came up with and Brabs' performance that put me in that position. All I had to do was pretty much drive it to the end”
“Overall I'm really happy and I think we were third overall on points for the weekend. Fourth and fifth is great especially on a weekend like this where there are so many elements thrown at you." said Slade.
Garth Tander and Ryan Briscoe finished in 5th, in the same position as on Saturday, but coming up from 12th on the grid.
There were 5 safety car periods in this debris-ridden weekend however after the sensational starts on Saturday the internationals did well to not have any major issues getting off the line. 20 of the 25 starters finished.
Whincup now leads the Championship with an even greater margin, making it difficult for FPR rival Winterbottom in the next few rounds. Winterbottom is now over 200 points behind the leader in the Championship.
Check out a video of the whole hot weekend here!
2012 V8 Supercars ArmorAll Gold Coast 600 – Race 2 Results (102 laps):
| Driver | Entry / Team | Result | ||
| 1. | Will Davison / Mika Salo |  |
Ford Performance Racing | 2:16:06.9161 |
| 2. | Jamie Whincup / Sébastien Bourdais |  |
Triple 8 Racing | + 0.5023 |
| 3. | Mark Winterbottom / Will Power | |
Ford Performance Racing | + 2.1931 |
| 4. | Tim Slade / David Brabham | |
Stone Brothers Racing | + 4.7583 |
| 5. | Garth Tander / Ryan Briscoe | |
Holden Racing Team | + 6.7205 |
| 6. | Craig Lowndes / Richard Lyons | |
Triple 8 Racing | + 9.9402 |
| 7. | Russell Ingall / Peter Dumbreck | |
Walkinshaw Racing | + 11.4888 |
| 8. | Lee Holdsworth / Simon Pagenaud | |
Stone Brothers Racing | + 11.6066 |
| 9. | Shane van Gisbergen / Jeroen Bleekemolen | |
Stone Brothers Racing | + 12.6979 |
| 10. | Fabian Coulthard / Nicolas Minassian | |
Brad Jones Racing | + 12.8490 |
| 11. | Rick Kelly / Graham Rahal | |
Kelly Racing | + 13.8741 |
| 12. | Steven Johnson / Max Papis | |
Dick Johnson Racing | + 13.9017 |
| 13. | David Reynolds / Nick Heidfeld | |
Ford Performance Racing | + 14.5725 |
| 14. | Jonathon Webb / Marc Lieb | |
Tekno Autosports | + 17.0130 |
| 15. | David Wall / Jamie Campbell-Walter | |
Brad Jones Racing | + 18.0038 |
| 16. | Taz Douglas / Mike Conway. | |
Dumbrell Motorsport | + 21.3784 |
| 17. | James Courtney / Darren Turner | |
Holden Racing Team | + 1:15.4242 |
| 18. | Steve Owen / Boris Said | |
Dick Johnson Racing | + 1 lap |
| 19. | Dean Fiore / Gianni Morbidelli | |
Dick Johnson Racing | + 11 laps |
| 20. | Greg Murphy / Justin Wilson | |
Kelly Racing | + 14 laps |
| NOT CLASSIFIED | ||||
| DNF. | Tim Blanchard / Marco Andretti | |
Kelly Racing | 69 laps |
| DNF. | Michael Caruso / James Hinchcliffe | |
Garry Rogers Motorsport | 34 laps |
| DNF. | Jason Bright / Stephane Sarrazin | |
Brad Jones Racing | 18 laps |
| DNF. | James Moffat / Peter Kox | |
Dick Johnson Racing | 0 laps |
| DNS. | Michael Patrizi / Lucas di Grassi | |
Tekno Autosports | Withdrew |
| WD. | Tony D’Alberto / Vitantonio Liuzzi | |
Tony D’Alberto Racing | Withdrew |
| WD. | Karl Reindler / Franck Montagny | |
Kelly Racing | Withdrew |
| WD. | Greg Ritter / Ricky Taylor | |
Garry Rogers Motorsport | Withdrew |
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