Photo: V8 Supercars

Whincup wins penultimate race – Lowndes sole title rival

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Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Jamie Whincup won the penultimate V8 Supercars race of 2013 on the streets of Sydney at Homebush, taking him one step closer to the title. Whincup’s team-mate Craig Lowndes is still in the title race, but only just after he finished 15th.

Ford Performance Racing driver Mark Winterbottom saw his title hopes fade early on after he clashed with Lowndes after a safety car restart early in the race.

Whincup started from pole position, but made a poor start which saw the field bunching up into the first corner. Winterbottom, who had started second, and Shane Van Gisbergen fought for the lead, but lost out as Whincup got back past with a brave move down the inside at the first turn, with Tekno Autosport’s Jonathon Webb following him through into second place.

As Whincup and Webb pulled away in the top two positions, Winterbottom and Lowndes fought for third. Lowndes managed to get past Winterbottom, only for the Ford driver to run into the back of the Holden driver, resulting in a spin for the two. Lowndes bounced back onto the track, collecting Winterbottom, and damaged his fuel filler, while Winterbottom’s car was further damaged when FPR team-mate David Reynolds ran into his right-rear.

The damage meant that Lowndes was not able to completely fill the tank during his pit stop, meaning one extra stop and a drop to 15th position, just enough to keep his title hopes alive for the final race of the year on Sunday. Lowndes is 110 points behind Whincup with 150 points still available.

Winterbottom continued the race after the clash, but was later forced to retire as he fell victim of a crash ahead of him when Tony D’Alberto clipped the wall in his Holden Commodore.

Tekno Autosport’s Shane Van Gisbergen finished third in the race, passing Fabian Coulthard on the last lap, sending the Brad Jones Racing driver in to the wall. Jason Bright in the other Brad Jones Racing entry finished fourth ahead of Will Davison in fifth, the result helping to move the Ford Performance Racing driver up to third overall in the championship ahead of his team-mate Winterbottom.

Nissan had a strong race with three cars in the top ten as Michael Caruso claimed seventh and brothers Rick and Todd Kelly finished in ninth and tenth position respectively. Tim Slade crossed the line in eighth for the Erebus Motorsport team in his Mercedes C63 AMG.