» V8s: Five pairings can win Pirtek crown

Five driver pairings will be in contention to claim this year’s Pirtek Enduro Cup when the second leg of the V8 Supercars Championship round of the Gold Coast 600 is run on Sunday afternoon.

The championship standings were blown wide open after mixed results for a number of more-fancied competitors, with no less that five pairings now in mathematical contention to claim the trophy.

Championship leader Mark Winterbottom and co-driver Steve Owen had a disastrous race on Saturday, and saw their 78-point lead coming into the event converted into a five-point deficit to the HRT Holden pairing of Garth Tander and the inaugural Pirtek Enduro Cup winner, Warren Luff.

It was perhaps ironic that a collision between Winterbottom and Tander in the pit lane was the deciding factor in the points’ shake-up, when the former was released into the path of the latter during a scrambled sequence of pit stops.

The incident saw damage to Winterbottom’s steering, resulting in a lengthy pit stop for repairs that put him down to a 23rd-placed finish; Tander went on to finish in fourth place.

The winners of Saturday’s opening race of the Gold Coast 600, Shane van Gisbergen and Jonathon Webb of TEKNO Autosports, now sit 30 points off the top of the standings and on the basis of their current form they could well be in contention for outright honours.

Bottle-O Racing’s David Reynolds and Dean Canto are fourth on the table, 54 points off the lead, while Red Bull Racing pairing of Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards are a further three points adrift.

There are a maximum of 150 championship points up for grabs in Sunday’s 102-lap race around the tortuous 2.98-kilometre Surfers Paradise circuit.

Pirtek Enduro Cup Championship Standings – The Contenders

	Driver / Co-Driver	Team	Pts
1.	Garth Tander / Warren Luff	Holden Racing Team	618
2.	Mark Winterbottom / Steve Owen	Prodrive Racing Australia	612
3.	Shane van Gisbergen / Jonathon Webb	TEKNO Autosports	588
4.	David Reynolds / Dean Canto	Rod Nash Racing (PRA)	564
5.	Craig Lowndes / Steven Richards	Triple 8 Race Engineering	561

Points System

Points are awarded for each race at an event, to the driver(s) of a car that completes at least 75% of the race distance and is running at the completion of the race, up to a maximum of 300 points per event.

Short format: Used for the 100 km races of Super Sprint events (excluding Auckland) and the 125 km races of Super Street events.
Long format: Used for the 200 km races of Super Sprint events, the 250 km race of Super Street events and in both races of the Gold Coast 600.
Endurance format: Used for the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 endurance races.

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