Jamie Whincup takes 90th V8 Supercars win in season premiere

Jamie Whincup claimed his 90th V8 Supercars victory, equalling him with legendary V8 driver Mark Skaife, in the first race of the 2015 season premiere at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.

The Triple Eight Race Engineering driver headed the field from lights to flag and managed to withstand hard pressure from Prodrive Racing Australia driver Chaz Mostert on the very last lap after a safety car restart.

Holden driver Fabian Coulthard claimed his first ever Adelaide podium finish in third, after losing one position to Mostert in the pitstop.

Another front runner losing ground during the pitstop was Holden Racing Team’s James Courtney who started sixth but lost valuable time due to problems with changing the right rear tyre. Courtney dropped down the order to finish in tenth position.

Whincup’s team mate Craig Lowndes climbed from eighth position on the grid to finish fourth ahead of Ford driver Mark Winterbottom in fifth and Tekno Autosports driver Shane Van Gisbergen in sixth.

There was drama at the end of the race as Will Davison’s Erebus Motorsport prepared Mercedes stopped on track due to an engine problem, forcing the safety car to come out. The same lap also saw contact between Andre Heimgartner and Dale Wood, with Heimgartner spinning and collecting Ash Walsh.

Volvo Polestar Racing driver Scott McLaughlin had a dreadful start to the season, spinning on the warm up lap due to a broken oil pump which spewed oil onto his tyres. The team is currently working hard with an engine change to get the car ready for the second race, starting at 16:25 local time.