Round one to Whincup

It was a Ford lockout at the first round of the 2008 V8 Supercars season-opening at Adelaide for the Clipsal 500 as the Falcons of Whincup, Mark Winterbottom and Craig Lowndes took the top three spots. Lee Holdsworth was Holden’s best in fourth.
Whincup dropped from third to 14th position shortly before the halfway point with an electrical problem but fought back brilliantly to take the chequered flag.

The 25-year-old polesitter moved ahead of teammate Lowndes into second in the latter stages and then Winterbottom, with two laps to go, both times with impressive passing manoeuvres on the inside.

Winterbottom, though, wasn’t happy with Whincup’s pass, saying: “I feel that I got pushed out of the way and he probably thought he was in there and had a move but at least when these things happen it sets the standard for the year.”

Whincup said he had “no doubt at all” about the legality of his move: “I had a great run through turn eight and went down the inside and got past.”

There was high Holden drama as new HSV Dealer driver Paul Dumbrell spun out the team’s No.1 Rick Kelly with just 10 laps to go as they battled for a top ten position. Kelly was able to recover quickly and finish as the second-best Holden in eighth, while Dumbrell did not finish.

There could have been further Ford success but James Courtney, while leading, made contact with Jason Richards while trying to overlap, damaged his right-front side and he was forced to pit, handing Lowndes the lead. Courtney finished ninth.

Reigning champion Garth Tander finished a lowly 23rd after suffering mechanical problems on lap 44 of 78.

Due to a rule change, the winner of Sunday’s second leg will be deemed the Clipsal 500 champion and round winner.

Previously, the driver who accumulated the most points from the weekend was considered the round winner but the race two winner was the Clipsal 500 champion, which caused confusion.