Whincup closes on series lead with Townsville victory
Jamie Whincup's return to early season form continues, as he takes the win in race 15 of the championship, closing to within 18 points of James Courtney.
Whincup claimed pole position and fought off Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander early in the race to keep the lead, and eventually pulled away to take the chequered flag with a 9.2 second margin of victory.
James Courtney finished fifth after the potential of a penalty hung over the series leader after an incident on lap two, when he made contact with team mate Steven Johnson, who found himself off circuit but would eventually recover to finish in eleventh place.
"Courtney was just being an idiot and took out his own team-mate; I wouldn’t want to be in that team briefing!" said Jason Bright, who was running just behind in the Trading Post Racing Holden, after qualifying just ahead of the DJR drivers.
"He just went into the back of Stevie at Turn One and if the stewards don’t penalize him there’s something wrong."
Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom rounded out the podium.
Also putting in strong performances, Garry Rogers Motorsports Lee Holdsworth finishing in fourth, PMM's Russell Ingall in sixth and Team BOC's Jason Richards, who started 25th, worked his way up to seventh place for the finish.
