# 2010 Armor All Gold Coast 600

The 2010 Armor All Gold Coast 600 was the eleventh event of the 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was held on the weekend of 22 to 24 October at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Queensland. V8 Supercars became the naming right category of the event for the first time in 2010 after racing as a support category for international open wheel racing for many of the previous Surfers Paradise events. In 2009 V8 Supercar were the leading category but not the naming rights category as that had been previously marketed as a double header with A1 Grand Prix who failed to arrive.
In an altered format for 2010 the races would take place over two 300 kilometres (190 mi) races with a driver change in the first time a third co-driver event was held in an Australian touring car season since 1990. In an effort to keep the events former international flavour each V8 Supercar team has employed a driver with an 'international reputation' with many drivers coming from the IndyCar Series and the World Touring Car Championship.

## Race 21

Chaos erupted at the start. Cameron McConville launched away from Garth Tander's pole position, but crept on the line and would be assigned a ten-second pit penalty for a jumped start. Jacques Villeneuve, also to be penalised for a too quick start, and Luke Youlden collided at the first corner, with Villeneuve then spinning in front of the pack at the second corner after contact with Greg Ritter, causing damage to several cars. Will Davison stopped on the first lap after contact with the spinning Villeneuve. Dean Fiore also pulled in on the opening lap with Will Power an early stopper after losing all of his cars oil.
McConville led the early laps with Michael Caruso climbing through the field into second place. Steve Owen also climbed through the field into third ahead of Warren Luff. Repeated spoiler damage by Tiago Monteiro caused his retirement.
On lap 70 Garth Tander was assigned a mechanical black flag, it was assumed for a fuel leak, but as it transpired to be a leak from Tander's drink bottle the flag was withdrawn. Subsequently, Tander's car shed a headlight cluster into the path of pursuing cars to no penalty, causing controversy amongst team principals and officials in the pits.
Courtney took the lead from Tander just prior to a safety car being called for Andrew Thompson, parked in the first chicane. Immediately at the lap 84 restart, Greg Murphy and Todd Kelly stopped in the second corner after Kelly spun.
Teammates Jason Bright and Jason Richards tangled on another safety car restart on lap 97, shortly after race leader James Courtney was penalised a drive-through for slowing down after the safety car pulled away from the queue.
Garth Tander pulled out to win from Craig Lowndes and Shane van Gisbergen. Michael Caruso finished fourth from Alex Davison, Jamie Whincup and Jason Bright.
| Pos. | No. | Drivers | Team | Car | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid |
| 1 | 2 | Garth Tander Cameron McConville | Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | 2:20:00.6981 | 1 |
| 2 | 888 | Craig Lowndes Andy Priaulx | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 1.855 | 6 |
| 3 | 9 | Shane van Gisbergen John McIntyre | Stone Brothers Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 102 | + 3.930 | 13 |
| 4 | 34 | Michael Caruso Patrick Long | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 5.232 | 9 |
| 5 | 4 | Alex Davison David Brabham | Stone Brothers Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 102 | + 25.043 | 21 |
| 6 | 1 | Jamie Whincup Steve Owen | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 25.441 | 8 |
| 7 | 14 | Jason Bright Alain Menu | Brad Jones Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 26.621 | 28 |
| 8 | 19 | Jonathon Webb Sébastien Bourdais | Tekno Autosports | Ford Falcon (FG) | 102 | + 26.732 | 22 |
| 9 | 21 | Karl Reindler Fabrizio Giovanardi | Britek Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 39.562 | 23 |
| 10 | 18 | James Courtney Warren Luff | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 102 | + 39.750 | 2 |
| 11 | 11 | Jason Bargwanna Alex Tagliani | Kelly Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 44.146 | 20 |
| 12 | 39 | Russell Ingall Jack Perkins | Paul Morris Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 45.997 | 15 |
| 13 | 51 | Greg Murphy Yvan Muller | Paul Morris Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 48.219 | 19 |
| 14 | 15 | Rick Kelly Owen Kelly | Kelly Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 1:11.057 | 11 |
| 15 | 8 | Jason Richards Andrew Jones | Brad Jones Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 101 | + 1 lap | 14 |
| 16 | 17 | Steven Johnson Dario Franchitti | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 101 | + 1 lap | 12 |
| 17 | 24 | Fabian Coulthard David Reynolds | Walkinshaw Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 101 | + 1 lap | 16 |
| 18 | 47 | Tim Slade Hélio Castroneves | James Rosenberg Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 101 | + 1 lap | 18 |
| 19 | 33 | Lee Holdsworth Greg Ritter | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 101 | + 1 lap | 5 |
| 20 | 7 | Todd Kelly Scott Dixon | Kelly Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 101 | + 1 lap | 17 |
| 21 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom Luke Youlden | Ford Performance Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 94 | + 1 lap | 4 |
| 22 | 55 | Paul Dumbrell Jacques Villeneuve | Rod Nash Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 91 | + 1 lap | 3 |
| Ret | 16 | Tony Ricciardello Dale Wood | Kelly Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 93 | Retired | 27 |
| Ret | 10 | Andrew Thompson Mika Salo | Walkinshaw Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 78 | Retired | 26 |
| Ret | 3 | Tony D'Alberto Tiago Monteiro | Tony D'Alberto Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 50 | Retired | 24 |
| Ret | 30 | Nathan Pretty Scott Pruett | Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 24 | Retired | 29 |
| Ret | 12 | Dean Fiore Gianni Morbidelli | Triple F Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 1 | Retired | 25 |
| Ret | 22 | Will Davison Ryan Briscoe | Walkinshaw Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 0 | Accident | 10 |
| Ret | 6 | Steven Richards Will Power | Ford Performance Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 0 | Accident | 7 |
| Fastest lap set by Craig Lowndes – 1:13.1879 on Lap 69 ||||||||
| Source: ||||||||

## Race 22

Steven Richards outlaunched teammate polesitter Luke Youlden to lead at the start as Greg Ritter crawled away all but stalling. Alain Menu was also slow away and stopped on the track, bringing out the safety car.
At the restart there was contact between Cameron McConville and David Brabham, sending Brabham into the wall hard.
At the second restart Richards started to build a gap over Youlden and Warren Luff. Steve Owen and Michael Caruso quickly pushed past Youlden and Luff.
Safety car emerged again for the stopped car of Andrew Thompson. The safety car emerged again on lap 33 for debris on the circuit as Jack Perkins scraped a door skin off his car at the top of the circuit.
Andrew Jones had an exhaust problem and slowed on the front straight to allow his pitcrew to examine the car as he passed. Three cars came past at differing speeds. Scott Dixon swung to the inside to get around the slowing cars in front as they checked their speed to begin their first safety car lap. Dixon struck the slow moving Jones, tearing the right rear corner from Jones' Commodore and damaging the front left corner of his own Commodore, putting both out of the race.
Steven Johnson was shortly afterward put into the wall after contact with Rick Kelly.
The final laps saw a close dice between Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen which became a physical clash on the final lap into the first chicane. Whincup held out the charging Van Gisbergen, with Mark Winterbottom crossing for third just behind.
| Pos. | No. | Drivers | Team | Car | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid |
| 1 | 1 | Jamie Whincup Steve Owen | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | 2:29:37.7468 | 4 |
| 2 | 9 | Shane van Gisbergen John McIntyre | Stone Brothers Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 102 | + 0.205 | 6 |
| 3 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom Luke Youlden | Ford Performance Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 102 | + 0.486 | 1 |
| 4 | 18 | James Courtney Warren Luff | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 102 | + 1.636 | 3 |
| 5 | 55 | Paul Dumbrell Jacques Villeneuve | Rod Nash Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 102 | + 17.854 | 8 |
| 6 | 15 | Rick Kelly Owen Kelly | Kelly Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 22.083 | 10 |
| 7 | 22 | Will Davison Ryan Briscoe | Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 23.557 | 21 |
| 8 | 39 | Russell Ingall Jack Perkins | Paul Morris Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 23.821 | 25 |
| 9 | 33 | Lee Holdsworth Greg Ritter | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 26.076 | 7 |
| 10 | 888 | Craig Lowndes Andy Priaulx | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 30.827 | 11 |
| 11 | 34 | Michael Caruso Patrick Long | Garry Rogers Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 32.874 | 14 |
| 12 | 24 | Fabian Coulthard David Reynolds | Walkinshaw Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 35.649 | 24 |
| 13 | 6 | Steven Richards Will Power | Ford Performance Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 102 | + 36.264 | 2 |
| 14 | 12 | Dean Fiore Gianni Morbidelli | Triple F Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 102 | + 1:08.613 | 27 |
| 15 | 51 | Greg Murphy Yvan Muller | Paul Morris Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 1:09.992 | 13 |
| 16 | 19 | Jonathon Webb Sébastien Bourdais | Tekno Autosports | Ford Falcon (FG) | 102 | + 1:12.591 | 19 |
| 17 | 3 | Tony D'Alberto Tiago Monteiro | Tony D'Alberto Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 102 | + 1:31.532 | 18 |
| 18 | 16 | Tony Ricciardello Dale Wood | Kelly Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 101 | + 1 lap | 28 |
| 19 | 47 | Tim Slade Hélio Castroneves | James Rosenberg Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 96 | + 6 laps | 23 |
| 20 | 11 | Jason Bargwanna Alex Tagliani | Kelly Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 92 | + 10 laps | 22 |
| Ret | 2 | Garth Tander Cameron McConville | Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore (VE) | 57 | Accident damage | 15 |
| Ret | 17 | Steven Johnson Dario Franchitti | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 38 | Retired | 12 |
| Ret | 21 | Karl Reindler Fabrizio Giovanardi | Britek Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 37 | Retired | 26 |
| Ret | 8 | Jason Richards Andrew Jones | Brad Jones Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 34 | Retired | 9 |
| Ret | 7 | Todd Kelly Scott Dixon | Kelly Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 34 | Retired | 16 |
| Ret | 30 | Nathan Pretty Scott Pruett | Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport | Holden Commodore (VE) | 28 | Retired | 29 |
| Ret | 10 | Andrew Thompson Mika Salo | Walkinshaw Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 12 | Retired | 20 |
| Ret | 4 | Alex Davison David Brabham | Stone Brothers Racing | Ford Falcon (FG) | 3 | Retired | 17 |
| Ret | 14 | Jason Bright Alain Menu | Brad Jones Racing | Holden Commodore (VE) | 0 | Retired | 5 |
| Fastest lap set by James Courtney – 1:13.1332 on Lap 67 ||||||||
| Source: ||||||||

## International driver trophy Points

| Pos | No | Name | Team | Points |
| 1 | 888 | Andy Priaulx | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 216 |
| 2 | 33 | Patrick Long | Garry Rogers Motorsport | 192 |
| 3 | 55 | Jacques Villeneuve | Rod Nash Racing | 150 |
| 4 | 19 | Sébastien Bourdais | Tekno Autosports | 147 |
| 5 | 51 | Yvan Muller | Paul Morris Motorsport | 126 |

## Standings

* After 20 of 26 races.
| Pos | No | Name | Team | Points |
| 1 | 18 | James Courtney | Dick Johnson Racing | 2521 |
| 2 | 1 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 2450 |
| 3 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 2255 |
| 4 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Performance Racing | 2201 |
| 5 | 2 | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | 2088 |
| source |||||