Brace yourself - Winterbottom is coming

Mark Winterbottom is coming for the throne.

The Ford Pepsi Max Crew driver was angry at himself after driving errors yesterday, but capitalised in the second race of the weekend, winning Race 11 at the ITM 500 Auckland.

Banking 50 points, he's minimised the gap to Championship leader Craig Lowndes to just 18 points and has his eyes firmly on the prize.

Winterbottom again managed to capitalise while his Red Bull rival had a harder day, qualifying 15 and losing a spot during the run.

"It is an awesome reward after yesterday," Winterbottom said post-race.

"I am so happy to pay the team back after I forced them to fix the car and didn't get the result we should've.

"It is good to bounce back and get a win. It was a bit lonely out the front but that's the way I always want it. I had a room with a view!

"We had a great start and lead from start to finish so I can't ask for any more. There is room to improve though so we will make some changes for the next race and hopefully a good start from P3 on the grid will keep us in contention."

ARMOR ALL pole man James Courtney continued his run on the podium, while Winterbottom's teammate Chaz Mostert made the top three for the first time with his new crew.

"I don't think I've ever been so excited to be in three!" Mostert said.

"It has been a tough start to the year and to be up here with Frosty is fantastic... finally got a podium!"

Jamie Whincup held off the Kiwis for fourth, with Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin behind, and Nick Percat, David Reynolds, Garth Tander and Fabian Coulthard completing the top 10.

Yesterday's winner Jason Bright was involved in an early incident with Tim Slade - pushing and shoving eventually led to a broken steering for Slade and a drive through penalty for Bright, though he powered through the field for 12th, still hoping to defend the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.

Click here for full race results.

Click here for Championship results.

Another race follows from the ITM 500 at 4.05pm local time, with Scott McLaughlin starting on pole position.