page_title: 2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600
section_title: Race
hierarchical_section_title: 2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600 / Race 23 / Race
caption_attribution_description: English: V8 Supercar driver Will Davison in 2012
context_page_description: The 2012 Armor All Gold Coast 600 was a touring car motor race for V8 Supercars. It was the Round 12 of the 2012 International V8 Supercars Championship and the 22nd year running of the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit race. It took place from 19 to 21 October at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Race 22 was won by Triple Eight Race Engineering's Jamie Whincup and Sébastien Bourdais from pole position. Will Davison and Mika Salo of Ford Performance Racing won the following day's second race from fourth place.
  Whincup took the pole position by posting the fastest lap in the top ten shootout but lost his lead to Salo at the start which was twice red flagged for a total of 50 minutes because of two separate start-line crashes that reduced the distance of the race from 102 to 79 laps. Bourdais challenged Salo over laps 23 and 32 but he could not overtake Salo on both occasions as the latter struggled with acceleration. Whincup later relieved Bourdais and retook the lead to build up a six-and-a-half second advantage that was reduced to nothing when the safety car was deployed for debris retrieval.
context_section_description: Race 23 started at 13:40 local time in clear and hot weather conditions of 30 °C (86 °F). As with the previous event, all of the international co-drivers began in their respective cars. At the start, Kox had a drive shaft failure and several cars narrowly avoided ramming into the rear of him as Bourdais maintained his pole position advantage to lead the field into the first corner. The safety car was dispatched at the end of the first lap to remove Kox's vehicle and it remained on the circuit until the conclusion of the next lap. Bourdais held the lead and had a healthy gap over Lieb and Power in second and third. On lap six, Turner made light contact with Rahal in turn four in his unsuccessful attempt to overtake him for seventh. Lyons put Salo under heavy pressure on the following lap due to a lack of rear tyre grip as Turner managed to pass Rahal to move into seventh. Heidfeld was hit by Sarrazin and spun at turn four on lap 11 but he continued without any clear damage to his vehicle. On lap 13, the safety car was deployed for a second time after Lyons dislodged the top of the tyre wall at turn one during a battle with Turner and Salo over fifth.
  Half of the field chose to make their compulsory pit stops for tyres under the safety car. Racing resumed at the start of lap 16 and Bourdais maintained the lead from Lieb and Power as the field drove through the first four turns without incident. On lap 17, Morbidelli spun on the exit to the beach chicane but he continued without any significant damage to his car despite some contact with the wall in the area. Sarrazin heavily hit the barrier at the same corner on the following lap and broke his upright rear suspension arm and had to retire his car. Upfront, Bourdais began to pull away from the remainder of the field with a series of fastest lap times in the next five laps to have a five-and-a-half second advantage by the 25th lap. After his pit stop where he had to replace his front flat-spotted tyres due to brake problems, Salo returned to the top ten on lap 28. On the next lap, Said lost tenth to Briscoe as Power and then overtook Jeroen Bleekemolen for ninth as Power closed up to Lieb and got the gap down to a second. A third deployment of the safety car was necessitated on the 30th lap as a large chunk of concrete was observed lying in the centre of turn three.
  The race resumed on lap 33 as Bourdais continued to lead from Lieb and Power. That lap, Salo got ahead of Rahal to claim sixth at turn four and was followed by Briscoe doing the same to the latter. Green flag pit stops for fuel, tyres and driver changes began on the 34th lap. Bourdais made his stop two laps later and Whincup took over the No. 1 car. Salo took the lead as he could reach around lap 60 before making his own stop. In the meantime, Hinchcliffe and Caruso retired on lap 35 when their car had its right-rear wheel sheered as the latter left the pit stall. On lap 46, Blanchard slid luridly on the exit to the beach chicane but he avoided contact with the wall. Lowndes had a clutch hydraulic issue leaving the beach chicane that dropped him behind Courtney for eleventh two laps later. Salo made his stop from the lead for replacement brake rotors on the 56th lap and was relieved by Davison. Brabham led until his lap 62 pit stop where Slade assumed his driving duties. Blanchard retired on lap 69 due to car damage. The safety car was dispatched for the fourth time as debris was observed on the track at turn 11 on lap 72 and Whincup took the opportunity to make a pit stop for fuel.
  The safety car was withdrawn at the end of the 74th lap and Slade led the field. Reynolds and Webb raced alongside each other on the run into turn six during the next lap as Ingall defended from Winterbottom for fifth on lap 76. On the following lap, Winterbottom successfully passed Ingall to take fifth on the back straight. Davison made contact with the rear of Slade's car as they battled for the lead through turn one on the 78th lap. On lap 80, Slade was passed around the inside by Davison for the lead entering turn four. That lap, 
caption: Will Davison held off Whincup in Race 23's final five laps to take his 13th career victory.
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