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Lap by Lap: Race 25

24 Aug 2013
James Moffat has taken his first series win and the first for Nissan Motorsport since rejoining V8 Supercars. Teammate Caruso followed in second.
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Race 25, a 60/60 Super Sprint, is about to unfold at the Winton 360 in regional Victoria. Red Bull Racing Australia's Jamie Whincup will start from ARMOR ALL Pole Position, Nissan Norton Hornets driver Michael Caruso second.

Great start from Whincup, slow start from Coulthard and Reynolds out wide on the grass. Clean through the first corner. 

At the end of lap one it's Whincup, Caruso, Moffat, Winterbottom, van Gisbergen, Bright, Courtney, Coulthard, Will Davison, Reynolds. 

Lowndes already up one spot to 17th. 

L5 Bright through for fifth, passing van Gisbergen. Whincup leading by half a second to Caruso. 

L10 Problem for Whincup, pulled left on front straight. "Had something explode" it sounded like he said on the radio. Caruso will now lead. Whincup out of the car and running back to pit lane. 

"Something went bang on the front straight," he said. 

Talk of transmission failure.

L14 Caruso leads from teammate Moffat, Winterbottom, Bright, van Gisbergen, Courtney, Coulthard, Will Davison, Reynolds, D'Alberto. 

L17 Rick Kelly has a big moment, on the outside of Scott Pye comes close to the wall. Cars have come out unscathed in 15th (Rick) and 16th (Pye).

Last lap of the first half and positions haven't changed up the front. Caruso, Moffat, Winterbottom. 

Halftime activated. Winterbottom getting pushed up pit lane. Not enough fuel?

Whincup's car being pushed into the garage. 

Top 10 at the halftime break as above. Also of note are Ingall 11, Tander 12, Lowndes 13, McLaughlin 23, and first Erebus Motorsport V8 machine Holdsworth in 24.

Cars are out on track. Lowndes already on the grid. 

Whincup will not get back out for the remainder of the race. 

Safety Car on track, cars are completing formation lap.

Cars are in pairs... 

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Moffat's taken the lead from Caruso on the restart. Clean restart. 

Bright has jumped up to third ahead of Winterbottom – so the top 10 on lap 23 are Moffat, Caruso, Bright, Winterbottom, Courtney, van Gisbergen, Will Davison, Coulthard, D'Alberto, Tander. Reynolds back to 11th, Lowndes back to 20th. First Merc Engel in 18th.

Good battle between Courtney and Winterbottom to play out. 

"You don't realise how much you love the sport until you're standing on the outside," Whincup said. 

Jason Bright has just set the fastest lap with a 1min23.2274 on lap 24.

L28 battle between Tander, Ingall and Reynolds. Tander is in 10th. 

L32 And the Nissans still lead. Gap from Moffat to 00.8569sec.

D'Alberto tries an aggressive move and ends up dropping four positions, behind van Gisbergen (eighth), Tander, Ingall and Reynolds.

L34 Moffat's made a mistake – Caruso's right on his bumper.

Post Race investigation, cars 17 Blanchard and 19 Webb T8.

L39 and Moff's lead is 0.5340sec. 

After coming home first in practice yesterday, James Moffat has his first V8 Supercars win and the first for the Nissan Altima. 

Teammate Caruso comes home in second for a Nissan 1-2, the first since Mark Skaife and Jim Richards in 1991 at Mallala. 

The 11th race winner of the season in Moffat – his previous best finish was fourth in 2011 at Queensland Raceway.

Whincup's DNF is the first of this season – next competitor in the points Lowndes has finished 21st. 

Following the two Norton Hornets home was Jason Bright, Mark Winterbottom, James Courtney, Will Davison, Fabian Coulthard, Garth Tander, Russell Ingall and David Reynolds. 

Others to note – Scott Pye 12, van Gisbergen 13, Mostert 16, Engel the first Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, McLaughlin 19, Webb 20. 

"This is not for me, this is for everybody who has helped me get to this stage. My family, everybody at Nissan Motorsport and everybody that's made the Norton Hornets... this is for them. It's been a great day for us and I'm really happy for Michael as well. I don't really know what to say." - James Moffat after the race.

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