Whincup/Dumbrell head Red Bull 1-2 in Sandown 500

Red Bull Racing Australia claimed a 1-2 in the Sandown 500 race with Jamie Whincup/Paul Dumbrell beating team mates Craig Lowndes/Warren Luff. But it was only ten laps from the end that the final result was decided as Whincup/Dumbrell had to fight back after a penalty.

The duo controlled the lead in the early part of the race, but a mistake during a pit stop where Dumbrell accidentally selected a gear when exiting the car, causing the rear wheels to spin, resulted in a drive-through penalty.

The penalty dropped Whincup, who took over the wheel after the pit stop, far down. But the Holden driver fought back up and overtook team mate Lowndes, who was struggling on worn tyres, with a mere ten laps left and won by eight seconds.

Will Davison and Steve Owen, starting from pole position, secured the final podium position in third, but only just. The Ford Performance Racing duo suffered from a gearbox oil leak in the closing stages, but still managed to defend from the Erebus Mercedes duo of Lee Holdsworth and Craig Baird. Despite missing out on a podium, fourth meant the best so far result for the Mercedes E63 in V8 Supercars.

James Courtney and Greg Murphy finished fifth ahead of the second best Ford pair in the form of Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards in sixth position. Winterbottom was ahead of both Lowndes and Whincup in the final part of the race, but dropped back after a slow pit stop.

The race was disrupted on lap 19 due to a damaged part of the circuit in corner six, causing the safety car to come out.

The victory for Whincup means that the Holden Commodore driver leads the championship by 96 points over Lowndes in second position, while Ford drivers Davison and Winterbottom has dropped to third and fourth overall respectively.

Next up for the V8 Supercars is the legendary Bathurst 1000 race on October 13th.