Whincup wins Melbourne Race 1

Jamie Whincup has won the first race at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne ahead of Garth Tander in the first of three non-championship races at the Grand Prix venue.

Whincup had started from second place on the grid alongside team-mate Craig Lowndes, and was relatively unchallenged in his charge to take his first victory in Melbourne.

Craig Lowndes damaged his car fighting with Shane van Gisbergen on lap three, with repairs needed to the front-left corner of his Triple Eight Race Engineering Commodore. Lowndes would rejoin and be classified as the last runner in 27th, two laps down.

Garth Tander put on a terrific charge in the Holden Racing Team Commodore to drive from 14th on the grid to eventually finish in second, ahead of Shane van Gisbergen in the Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon.

The Stone Brothers Racing team showed good performance at Melbourne, with their other two cars of Alex Davison and Tim Slade fighting for second throughout the first phase of the race. A disastrous tyre change for Slade scuppered his chance of a strong result however, dropping the 25-year-old back down the field and he’d go to finish in 23rd.

Jason Richards on his temporary return at Brad Jones Racing finished in seventh place on his first race in the V8 Supercars since Symmons Plains in November last year.