Ford’s Chaz Mostert has claimed victory in the opening race of the Gold Coast 600 Supercars event, with Scott McLaughlin seizing the championship lead.

Mostert made the most of a dramatic early pit-stop in Saturday’s 102-lap race to come home ahead of Holden veteran Craig Lowndes.

Bathurst 1000 winner Lowndes somehow brought his Commodore home on the podium after starting the race in 21st after a five grid-position penalty for a collision in qualifying.

Holden’s James Courtney held off fast-finishing David Reynolds to secure third place.

It’s Mostert’s first victory since the corresponding race last year and just his second podium of 2018.

McLaughlin, who began the day by claiming his 12th pole position of the season, ended it by leading the championship standings. Rival Shane Van Gisbergen had a day to forget, coming home 10th.

That result means the DJR Team Penske racer, having entered the race 19 points behind Van Gisbergen, leads the title standings by 14 points.

After being disqualified from the top-10 shootout for pole position for kerb-hopping earlier in the day, Van Gisbergen could only watch when his co-driver Earl Bamber was penalised for an unsafe release during a chaotic pit-stop sparked by a yellow flag on lap 23.

Youngster Will Brown’s crash brought out the safety car, sending the field scrambling to the pits.

After being forced to wait behind Paul Dumbrell, Bamber was pinged by race stewards for coming out of his pit bay dangerously close to Garry Jacobson.

Dumbrell, who had been leading the race, was also penalised for an unsafe release in front of McLaughlin’s co-driver Alex Premat.

Both Red Bull Holden Racing Team entries received drive-through penalties, leaving Van Gisbergen and defending champion Jamie Whincup to limit the damage by working their way through the field.

Whincup finished 14th, almost certainly ending any hopes he might have retained of defending his title.

The Gold Coast 600 wraps up on Sunday with another 300km race.