The red-hot form continues for Supercars championship leader Scott McLaughlin, who has won the opening race of the Ipswich SuperSprint event.
The DJR Team Penske driver maximised a horrible Saturday for rival Jamie Whincup at Queensland Raceway by taking out his sixth win of the year in the 37-lap race.
McLaughlin's win and Whincup's lowly 20th-place finish means the New Zealander holds a 111-point lead in the championship.
After securing his 10th pole position of the year and qualifying on the front row for a 13th-consecutive race, McLaughlin twice passed veteran Craig Lowndes in the 120km event on his way to victory.
Lowndes, a 12-time winner at Ipswich, faded as the race went on and eventually came home fifth, with Ford's Chad Mostert finishing second.
Defending series champion Shane van Gisbergen capped a storming second half of the race with a last-lap pass of Holden's Tim Slade to secure third.
McLaughlin has won three of the past four races and admits his confidence is sky-high as he chases a maiden Supercars title.
"We're just trying to make the most of each round we come to ... feeling good but we don't want to change too much, just keep pressing on," he said.
Anything that could go wrong did for Whincup, who qualified ninth-fastest but had to start the race at 14th after being penalised five grid positions for making contact with James Moffat in the pit lane during qualifying.
A sloppy pit stop early in race sent the six-time driver's champion further back in the field and he eventually came home 20th.
"I had an idea that I wanted to capitalise on my position," McLaughlin said.
"Even when Lowndes got in front of me, I didn't want to risk too much but I wanted to get past him because I had the pace.
"That was a race - with the speed I had - I needed to try and win it and absolutely that's what we did."
Mostert's result was his best finish since he came second in Perth in May and he felt it showed his Prodrive Racing Australia outfit was making progress.
"Overall it's a pretty good day," he said.
"Definitely the car is a bit better this year than where we were last year ... it's good to have that race today and get a bit more confidence."
The event wraps up on Sunday with a 200km race from 2.05pm (AEST).
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