A decade since they last teamed together Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife got the band back together and won the Philip Island 500, the traditional lead up to the Bathurst 1000.

Lowndes took the lead late in the race over team-mate Jamie Whincup to lead home Mark Winterbottom and Luke Youlden.

Whincup and Steve Owen looked set to win after dominating most of the race but a major oil leak put the defending champion into the pits with only a handful of laps remaining.

Third place for the Team BOC Commodore of New Zealand driver Jason Richards and Andrew Jones was a remarkable effort after a drive through penalty when a wheel nut came lose in the teams first stop.

The Brad Jones led team used clever strategy to work their way back into the race, and Richards looked set to take a brilliant second until he ran slightly wide at the hairpin allowing Winterbottom into second.

The Jack Daniel’s team of Rick Kelly and Owen Kelly were fourth with the team of Tim Slade and Jack Perkins in a great drive to fifth.

Jonathan Webb and David Russell also put in a stong performance to take their Dick Johnson Racing Falcon into sixth position. Paul Dumbrell and Dean Canto were next in their Falcon ahead of the veteran Holden pairing of Russell Ingall and Paul Morriss.

Australian International and 2009 Le Mans 24 hour winner David Brabham slowly came to grips with his Falcon and along with co-driver Alex Davison worked his way through to finish in tenth place.

Series leader James Courtney ran wide late in the race and finished back in 12th place.

Despite finishing outside the top ten Courtney has extended his lead in the Championship 195 points

The win to Lowndes and Skaife should elevate them to favourite status for the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama on October 10.

Image: Team Vodafone Media