» V8s: Courtney survives chaotic Clipsal finale

James Courtney has survived a crash-strewn final race of the Adelaide Clipsal 500 today to ensure a Holden clean sweep of victories across the weekend.

The HRT driver held off a determined Craig Lowndes to claim victory by just six-tenths of a second, earning the victory on the back of an error-free race while many of his rivals suffered.

Courtney came through the field from 15th on the grid, and was hardly a contender for victory in the opening phase of the race, which saw Jamie Whincup jump pole-sitter Shane van Gisbergen off the line to lead the race.

But an appearance by the Safety Car on Lap 10 threw the race strategy options wide open, with most of the field electing to make a pit stop. The exceptions to this were van Gisbergen and Nissan’s Rick Kelly, who stayed out to run 1-2.

The full-course caution was triggered by Lee Holdsworth hitting the Turn 8 wall after being tagged by James Moffat’s Nissan as they disputed ninth place.

Green-flag racing resumed on Lap 14, but the safety car was back in action just seconds later after Jason Bright’s BOC Holden was tipped into a terrifying roll at the Senna Chicane at the restart.

Bright was the unfortunate victim of a ‘three into one won’t go’ battle for track position at the restart, and found himself tippied into a roll after being clipped by Garth Tander’s Holden.

The former champion was launched into the catch fencing on the left-hand side of the track and landed on his roof, and the contact triggered all sorts of mayhem for the chasing pack behind.

While a shaken Bright was able to walk away from the crash, the damage to his Holden will almost certainly rule him out for the non-championship Australian Grand Prix races in less than a fortnight’s time, unless the Brad Jones Racing team can ready a spare car in time.

Van Gisbergen opted to use the second safety car period to make his first pit stop, but both he and Kelly were predictably hit with drive-through penalties for jumping the earlier restart.

That promoted Whincup back into the lead, and Saturday race-winner held the position until Lap 56 when he was called into the pits for a drive-through penalty after officials ruled he’d made a pit lane violation on his second tyre and fuel stop. That left him out of contention, and he finished a distant 15th after damaging his car battling with Michael Caruso.

Whincup’s misfortunes were to Courtney’s benefit. Having quietly worked his way up the order, the 2010 champion passed Craig Lowndes, and then assumed the lead with Whincup’s visit to the pits.

Courtney and Lowndes battled for the win for the remainder of the race – surviving a third safety car interruption courtesy of a DNF for Scott McLaughlin’s Volvo – while van Gisbergen showed a more mature aggression than he’d demonstrated yesterday to claim the final podium spot.

Fabian Coulthard finished fourth, surviving a late battle with Rick Kelly and Tim Slade, with David Reynolds, David Wall, James Moffat and Dale Wood completing the top ten.

2014 V8 Supercars Clipsal 500 Adelaide – Race 3 Final Classification (76 laps):

	Driver	Team / Entry	Time
1.	James Courtney	TWR Holden	1:57:52.939
2.	Craig Lowndes	Triple Eight Holden	+ 0.666
3.	Shane van Gisbergen	Tekno Autosports Holden	+ 4.857
4.	Fabian Coulthard	Brad Jones Racing Holden	+ 5.658
5.	Rick Kelly	Nissan Motorsport	+ 5.907
6.	Tim Slade	TWR Holden	+ 6.795
7.	David Reynolds	Ford Performance Racing	+ 7.569
8.	David Wall	Dick Johnson Racing Ford	+ 8.854
9.	James Moffat	Nissan Motorsport	+ 10.753
10.	Dale Wood	Brad Jones Racing Holden	+ 32.705
11.	Jack Perkins	Ford Performance Racing	+ 1 lap
12.	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Performance Racing	+ 1 lap
13.	Garth Tander	TWR Holden	+ 3 laps
14.	Michael Caruso	Nissan Motorsport	+ 5 laps
15.	Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Holden	+ 8 laps
16.	Lee Holdsworth	Erebus Motorsport AMG	+ 10 laps
17.	Russell Ingall	Lucas Dumbrell Holden	+ 16 laps
	Not Classified
DNF.	Nick Percat	TWR Holden	71 laps
DNF.	Scott McLaughlin	Volvo Polestar Racing	65 laps
DNF.	Chaz Mostert	Ford Performance Racing	13 laps
DNF.	Jason Bright	Brad Jones Racing Holden	13 laps
DNF.	Scott Pye	Dick Johnson Racing Ford	13 laps
DNF.	Robert Dahlgren	Volvo Polestar Racing	12 laps
DNF.	Will Davison	Erebus Motorsport AMG	9 laps
DNF.	Todd Kelly	Nissan Motorsport	2 laps