“With 20 laps to go, I had Richo all over me and didn't think I'd be finishing on the podium - he could have had me off anywhere, as I was really struggling at turns one and six, but thankfully he didn't."
TeamVodafone's Craig Lowndes was also in the fight for third, while James Courtney, Rick and Todd Kelly, and Will Davison scrapped in his wake. Acknowledging that he has had some mixed race results at Barbagallo in the past, Lowndes said that he would accept a solid fifth to start the weekend.
"This is a good result for us as it is something of a bogey track for our team," he said, "We need to find a bit more drive, but overall I am very happy with the car it was consistent throughout the race and looked after its tyres well. I am much happier being in this position tonight than I was this time last year."
Courtney's challenge was disrupted when he had to take a drive-thru' penalty after officials deemed him to be blocking those chasing his brand new Jeld-Wen Falcon, but he was also struggling to keep the wayward machine on the road..
"I guess I was surprised how quickly the black flag was called after I got the warning for blocking, and I'm pretty frustrated to be at the back of the field again after a good qualifying session," the Stone Brothers driver commented, "The car was good early, but it started to go off very quickly after our pit-stop. I was struggling just about everywhere on the track and just trying to hang on to position. It's possible that something may have broken during the race, so the guys are having a look at it now to get back on track tomorrow.”
With Courtney out of the equation, Rick Kelly moved up to accept sixth, just ahead of the charging Jamie Whincup, who had qualified only 22nd on return from his Hamilton shunt.
![Mark Winterbottom - Ford Performance Racing [Pic credit: Ford/Edge Photographics]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/417041.jpg)
