Whincup secures victory in NZ first heat

Jamie Whincup has won the first round in Hamilton, beating Garth Tander to victory.

Whincup didn’t have it all his own way, he lost the lead early on after Tander managed to pass the TeamVodafone driver. This was after a safety car period brought about by local driver Shane van Gisbergen crashing out on lap two.

Jamie was happy to return to the centre step of the podium:
“We pretty much left off from Clipsal,” he said. “If you remember we all battled it out at the end of race two there; unfortunately the referee plucked me out of the middle but it was great just to be able to belt on right until the end (today).”

Whincup builds on his lead in the drivers championship with 921 points, whilst James Courtney now moves into second place after his third place finish today, with 825 points – just ahead of Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom.