Photo: V8 Supercars

Jamie Whincup prevails again in Texas

Jamie Whincup took his third victory of the weekend in the final race of the Austin 400 at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas. The reigning champion further extended his championship lead, and continues his unprecedented success in offshore V8 Supercar races.

Whincup led the race from lights to flag in what turned out to be another dominant display from the Red Bull Racing Australia pilot. The championship leader steered his VF Commodore to a 2.7 second victory ahead of race 15 winner Fabian Coulthard for Brad Jones Racing. Rounding out the podium was kiwi Shane van Gisbergen, who managed to displace Craig Lowndes off the podium in the final 100 kilometre sprint. Garth Tander and Craig Lowndes finished 4th and 5th respectively for HRT and Red Bull Racing.

Fabian Coulthard and Jamie Whincup were locked in a close battle in the early stages of the race. Whincup jumped the kiwi off the start line; however Coulthard incessantly pressured the championship leader throughout the opening stint in his Lockwood sponsored Commodore. Coulthard dived into the pits on lap 11, with Mark Dutton ordering Whincup into pit-lane a lap later. Crucially, Whincup rejoined the race slightly ahead of Coulthard, and proceeded to pull away over the final 15 laps.

In what has been a dominant display by Red Bull Racing and Brad Jones Racing for the entire weekend, Shane van Gisbergen fought hard to achieve a well-deserved podium result for Tekno Autosport. The 24 year-old was locked in a close battle with Garth Tander throughout the event, and managed to gain the ascendency in his VIP Petfoods Commodore.
Mark Winterbottom was once again the leading Ford pilot in the field, managing to steer his Ford Performance Racing Falcon to 6th position. Jason Bright set the lap record in the final laps of the race, and passed Rick Kelly in the dying stages to finish 7th. The Victorian will be disappointed to have been comprehensively outshone by his BJR team-mate, Fabian Coulthard, throughout the weekend. Rick Kelly took his fourth top 10 finish in what was an impressive outing for the Nissan Altima, which thrived at the technical 3.7 kilometre circuit. Jonathon Webb and James Courtney rounded out the top 10 for Tekno Autosport and Holden Racing Team respectively.

Earlier, Jamie Whincup set a 1.31.9, which completed his sweep of all four qualifying sessions of the Austin 400. However, he was 8 tenths of a second slower than his qualifying result for race 15 as a result of the limited tyre allocation. Fabian Coulthard was a further 2 tenths of a second behind the championship leader, while Garth Tander put his HRT Commodore into third. Jason Bright was 4th for Team BOC, ahead of Rick Kelly in the best placed Nissan Altima. Kelly equalled the best qualifying result for a Nissan thus far in 2013, which was achieved in the qualifying session for the previous race.

Numerous incidents occurred throughout the final segment of the Austin 400. James Moffat was turned around on the exit of the final corner on the third lap of the race, while his Norton 360 Racing team-mate, Michael Caruso, also struck trouble after contact with James Courtney on the 10th lap. However, perhaps the most critical incident occurred between Will Davison and Scott McLaughlin. FPR’s Davison locked his rear brakes while attempting a move up the inside of Craig Lowndes, and took out the Garry Rogers Motorsport Commodore of Scott McLaughlin. The 19 year-old Kiwi was an innocent bystander, with both drivers retiring from the race with heavy damage.

In terms of the championship standings, Jamie Whincup extended his championship lead to 142 points over team-mate Craig Lowndes in second. A horror weekend for Will Davison saw him drop to third, and fall into the clutches of BJR duo Coulthard and Bright. The next round of the International V8 Supercar championship is the Sky City Triple Crown at Hidden Valley in four weeks’ time.