Holden's Craig Lowndes edges Ford's Mark Winterbottom to win race three of V8s in Darwin Craig Lowndes won the final race in Darwin. Picture: Getty Images Source: News Limited HOLDEN'S Craig Lowndes avoided a spectacular pile-up and a fiesty Mark Winterbottom to win the third and final race of the V8 Supercars round in Darwin on Sunday. He sped to victory down the home straight with his Ford rival right on his tail to triumph by just 0.12sec and they were joined on the podium by pole-sitter David Reynolds. Lowndes" 92nd career victory maintained second spot in the championship, 159 points behind Red Bull Racing teammate Jamie Whincup, who finished 19th. Fans at a packed Hidden Valley circuit had to endure a long delay after carnage on lap one that forced seven cars to pull out. With cars travelling at 190km/h between turns two and three, contact to Tim Slade's Mercedes seemed to be the cause of a massive pile-up that left 10 vehicles strewn across the track. Slade, David Wall, Alex Premat, Lee Holdsworth, James Moffat and Alex Davison were forced to quit due to excessive damage, as was Dean Fiore, whose Holden ended up on two wheels after smacking the tyre barrier at serious speed. The incident resulted in a red flag and a rare race restart 15 minutes later as debris was cleared from the track. Stewards ruled the race would be reduced for the new 21-man field due to time restrictions. Almost every car pitted over the following two laps to put on the faster soft tyres for the shorter adjusted distance. A second red-hot start from Reynolds went to waste as Lowndes took control after another safety car deployment. Whincup copped a drive-through penalty for spinning wheels in pit lane which ruined his chances and James Courtney's day ended with electrical issues. Lowndes then held his nerve to outpace the field in Top End temperatures that reached 34C. Earlier, Winterbottom broke through for his first race win in more than 12 months in the opening 100km battle. In a tumultuous season for the 32-year-old, he took the chequered flag by an emphatic margin of 6.01sec ahead of Holden pair of Courtney and Lowndes. It was his first triumph since May last year. Starting from second on the grid, Winterbottom overtook Holden's pole-sitter Courtney on lap seven of 35 and stayed calm to deliver only the second victory of the season for his Ford Performance Racing (FPR) team. It was also some redemption from Saturday, when Winterbottom shoved Reynolds off the road as they fought for second spot and both battled home well outside the top 10. Winterbottom's FPR teammate Will Davison was fourth, followed by Whincup, Jonathon Webb, Fabian Coulthard and Shane van Gisbergen.