Matt Stone Racing proved their strategic dominance at a wet and windy Tasmania Supersprint, with a speedy pit stop handing Nick Percat his second Supercars race win of the year.
From fourth on the grid, Percat stunned pole-sitter Broc Feeney and Tickford Racing's Cam Waters to take the lead halfway through the race and held it until the chequered flag on Saturday.
The 35-year-old jumped to sixth on the Supercars standings with the result, which also had big implications at the top of the ladder.
Chaz Mostert finished second, just missing out on his third straight race win by 0.6 seconds.Â
The Walkinshaw Andretti United driver closed the gap on championship leader Will Brown to 63 points, meaning he could overtake him in top spot by winning Sunday's race.
Brown's Triple Eight teammate Feeney was third after he consolidated his lead at the top of the grid with a perfect start.
The 21-year-old looked like running away with it until Grove Racing's Richie Stanaway dropped in front of him after coming out of the pits, squeezing his gap over the rest of the competition.
With Feeney and Stanaway nearly getting into a tangle in front of him on lap 27, Waters dived out of the way and into the pit lane.
Feeney pitted the next lap and when he came out had slightly extended his lead, but the lap after Percat pulled out of the pit to undercut them both.
"When I came into the lane and I realised how fast the stop was I'm like 'Oh, we're going to come out in the lead here', because that was seriously quick," Percat said.
Symmons Plains Raceway has not been a happy hunting ground for the South Australian, whose best finish out of 23 previous race starts was seventh, but in the tricky, slightly muddy conditions on Saturday he held his nerve and held off his rivals.
Having sat behind the leading trio of Feeney, Waters and Percat for most of the race, Mostert surged up late to take second spot.
Looking seriously rapid on a fresh set of tyres, the double-race winner at Sydney Motorsport Park shot past Waters and then Feeney with five laps to go.
Mostert confessed he was surprised to finish so high, in the process securing his fifth straight podium.
"I don't really want to talk publicly about what I would have done for second today," he joked.
"So pretty stoked."
Grove Racing's Matt Payne dropped to last place in the opening lap after he was sent sideways through turn six from a bump by Will Davison.
But he recovered to finish 19th and notched the fastest lap of the race to claim five extra competition points.
Reigning championship winner Brodie Kostecki dropped down to fifth after starting third on the grid.
The pressure is on Brown to perform on Sunday after a horror few weeks, despite an impressive drive from 15th on the grid to finish seventh.
RACE 17 RESULTS:
1. Nick Percat (Matt Stone Racing)
2. Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw Andretti United)
3. Broc Feeney (Triple Eight Race Engineering)
4. Cam Waters (Tickford Racing)
5. Brodie Kostecki (Erebus Motorsport)
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1. Will Brown - 1842 pts
2. Chaz Mostert - 1779 pts
3. Broc Feeney - 1722 pts
4. Cam Waters - Â 1480 pts
5. Matt Payne - 1377 pts
