Holden's Craig Lowndes overcame the toughest conditions imaginable at Sandown Raceway in Victoria to keep the Australian V8 Supercar championship chase alive.
Lowndes trimmed Vodafone teammate Jamie Whincup's championship lead to 158 points with just three races remaining this season.
He produced a stunning drive from 27th on the 28-car grid to finish sixth behind race winner Rick Kelly's Holden and salvage his championship hopes.
After a horror qualifying session which left him at the back of the grid, Lowndes rose above pouring rain, low visibility and treacherously-slippery conditions to pass Whincup and claw back valuable points in the title chase.
Whincup finished 13th, but remains in the box seat to claim his third V8 championship.
But he will want to take as many points as possible from Sunday's second race at Sandown to the final two races in Sydney next month to avoid Lowndes taking the title to the wire.
