Whincup leads Triple Eight 1-2 at Townsville

Jamie Whincup has further extended his lead in the championship over team-mate Craig Lowndes with victory at Round 15 of the V8 Supercars Championship in Townsville, Queensland.

Craig Lowndes had qualified on pole position, but at the start it was Mark Winterbottom from second on the grid who took an early, albeit brief lead in the Ford Performance Racing Falcon.

Lowndes was running on used sprint (soft) tyres which had far superior grip to Winterbottom’s hard tyres, and retook the lead on lap two.

Points leader Jamie Whincup was also running on used sprint tyres, but was unable to move up the order, stuck behind Garth Tander’s Holden Racing Team Commodore in fourth.

James Courtney was the other front-runner to start on sprint tyres, and the reigning champion was making good progress in the No.1 Holden Racing Team Commodore VE, working his way up from 12th on the grid to second place before the first round of pit-stops. Courtney lost ground in the pits, falling back behind team-mate Tander and FPR’s Mark Winterbottom.

On lap 44, the safety car was called for debris, which led to a rush for all cars to pit for the final time.

Jamie Whincup, James Courtney and Will Davison all lost ground having to queue in the pitlane behind their team-mates, with Will Davison making slight contact with Courtney whilst trying to move into the train of cars on their way out of the pits.

The race then fell apart for the Holden Racing Team within a lap on Lap 49, with Garth Tander slowing from third with a broken rear shock absorber mount, and then Courtney, recovering ground in the mid-pack, spun Tim Slade around in the Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon. Although Courtney continued and gained the position, he was later called for a drive-through penalty, as was Jason Bright who had done exactly the same to FPR’s Will Davison one lap earlier.

Tim Slade put on a valiant charge to recover from the back of the field to seventh place, whilst Courtney ended up 19th.

Despite having lost track position in the pits, Whincup was on a charge on all fresh sprint tyres in the final stint. With Tander’s troubles getting him out of Whincup’s way, the two-times champion first passed Mark Winterbottom for second, and then passed his team-mate Craig Lowndes for the lead on lap 56, where he remained until the chequered flag, securing his sixth win of the season.

Whincup’s victory means his championship lead is now 186 points over Lowndes, with Shane van Gisbergen 366 points down in third place, heading into the six week winter break.