Cooldheart won the Dramatic Bend starter

Fabian Coulthart won a dramatic opening race at the Repco The Bend Supersprint, where title contenders Jamie Winkup and Scott McLaughlin clashed in the opening lap.

While the rain that threatened to spice up the action never came, there was no action for the first super cars race that took place at The Bend on the smooth compound Dunlop tire.

Fifth-placed starter Coulthart won a thrilling late race to lead Jack Le Brock, while Rookie Price Fulwood completed an impossible stage.

The result ended a 41-race undefeated streak for Cooldhard, making it a very difficult day for Shell V-Power Racing teammate McLaughlin.

McLaughlin took the lead from Winsub, Van Gisbergen and Sauce Mostert, who started slowly from the Pole by Armor.

But McLaughlin’s lead only lasted until the 17th, when Wincup stepped inside and locked his rear brakes as Shellford closed.

Lateral contact from the sliding Commodore caused both cars to collide off the road – Wincub again on the 10th Climbing and McLaughlin 19.

After Wincup was fined 15 seconds, they were both eighth and 17th, respectively, by the time they both spent five laps, advancing from track 10 to McLaughlin.

Van Gisbergen gave the lead thanks to the clash in their opening lap and took first place until the eighth lap on the 24th.

The Kiwi was under a lot of pressure as the Red Bull Commodore chewed on its tires when the pitstop cycle was over.

Despite having tires three laps older than Van Gisbergen, Le Brock persecuted the leader and hit the front briefly with an internal move on turn 17 on lap 19.

However, Van Gisbergen reclaimed that spot when he left, and Le Brock was wide enough to push Cooldhart Superseap Mustang into third place.

Le Brock finished second from Goldhart in Turn 6 at lap 22, then van took another trip on Gisbergen, again falling behind the shell entry into battle.

Van Gisbergen finally lost the lead in the following lap to Turn 1, where both Coulthart and Le Brock found a way through the sick Red Bull entry.

This left both Ford drivers fighting for victory – Cooldheart hung at 0.4693.

McLaughlin took the flag in third place, but was fined 15 seconds for 22 collisions in the lap with Lee Holtsworth.

It dropped McLaughlin to 15th, giving him the first stage of his career ahead of Price Fullwood Andre Heykardner, Cameron Waters, Rick Kelly, Scott Pi and Anton de Pascual.

Van Gisbergen dropped to ninth, while Winkb also struggled late in the tires, finishing 19th to push McLaughlin by 151 points.

Another, who struggled with a tire career in the Mostert race, finished 12th.

Goldhardt, who had a turning point at the start of his 200th Super Cars Championship round, had no such worries.

“Forty-one is a long time ago, so it’s great to have my 200th round start and win,” he aired.

“I can’t thank my boys enough, little Margie [Fenning, engineer] I got my car well, so we put our time there. “

Le Brock, meanwhile, had mixed feelings about second place.

“You live, learn. I’m a little angry for putting the car in the wrong place,” he said.

“I thought we had the car to win today, so it’s a little frustrating for me, but still on the moon and a fantastic result for everyone on the team.”