Photo: Jim Beam Racing

Courtney wins again, closes on Whincup in points

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Jim Beam Racing’s James Courtney has won the first race at Winton, and moves to within three points of Jamie Whincup in the points standings.

The Dunlop Sprint Tyres are the talk of the race weekend, with Courtney first of all mastering them to grab pole position, and then taking the race victory.

Courtney lost the lead at the line however, and was passed by Garth Tander at the start. Courtney was able to pass Garth at the pits when Tander had a slow stop, but found himself briefly behind title rival Whincup.

However, Whincup ran wide coming out of the pits, and Courtney managaged to pass the TeamVodafone driver and continue to claim his third consecutive win.

“Hopefully tomorrow afternoon we’ll come out in front of the Championship, which would be nice to have someone different at the top because Jamie’s been up there consistently for the last three years, so it would be nice to jump him.” said Courtney

Whincup eventually finished third, as team mate Craig Lowndes benefitted from a later stop and could take advantage of the sprint rubber to move through the field.

Shane van Gisbergen finished strongly in fifth, climbing ten places from his starting position in the race, and strong results also from the Holden’s of Kelly Racing’s Todd Kelly and Trading Post Racing’s Jason Bright to finish in the top ten.