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Whincup reigns in Paradise

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TeamVodafone driver Jamie Whincup dominated the Coffee Club Challenge at the Nikkon Indy 300 by taking all three race wins nettng him maximum points for his challenge for the 2008 drivers title.
And with teammate Craig Lowndes sixth overall for the round, TeamVodafone take over the top spot in the V8 Supercar Teams Championship.

This is the fourth round win for Whincup this season so far, making him the favourite to take the V8 Supercars series.

As in race one, Whincup was followed across the line by the Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore of Garth Tander and Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom.

Apart from Tander getting the better start in race two and the usual position changes during the mandatory pit stops, Whincup and his TeamVodafone pit crew were faultless, seizing every opportunity that presented and withstanding pressure from Garth Tander to control both 27-lap races.

The TeamVodafone driver acknowledged he had set this event as a personal goal at the start of the season and said he achieved exactly what he set out to do.

“It was a very special weekend taking pole and winning all three races,” Whincup said.

“This was the only major race I hadn’t won so it is feels really good to be able to tick it off my list of goals”.

“Full credit must go to the team, we didn’t necessarily have the quickest car out there but we made the most of opportunities as they arose,” he admitted.

Teammate endured a tough weekend caught in traffic and was unable to capitalize on his car speed due to the notoriously hard to pass nature of the 4.47 kilometre street circuit.

The three-time Touring Car Champion Craig Lowndes finished ninth in both of today’s races finishing sixth overall for the round which added 180 points to his championship tally. Keeping him in fourth place in the championship standings.

“It was a tough weekend,” Lowndes admitted. “The car was actually very good but I couldn’t utilise it as I was stuck in traffic all weekend.”

“We still came away with some very good points and I have maintained fourth in the championship.”

“Overall it was a great team effort, we have come away with two straight cars and we are leading both the Team and Driver Championships,” he continued.

With little time to celebrate TeamVodafone will now prepare for the airlift to Bahrain for Round 12 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series which will be held at Bahrain