Jamie Whincup wins race one in Tasmania

Jamie Whincup has won the first race of the weekend at Symmons Plains ahead of Triple Eight team-mate Craig Lowndes, extending his lead in the V8 Supercars Championship.

Whincup had taken pole position for the 23rd round of the season, but a quick launch by Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom from second on the grid saw the 30-year-old Sydney driver lead ahead of Whincup into Turn 1, with Stone Brothers Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen in third ahead of the #888 car of Craig Lowndes.

Will Davison made progress from the start, moving up to fifth from seventh on the grid in the second FPR Ford Falcon, whilst Garth Tander in the Holden Racing Team Commodore was also working his way up the order. After qualifying tenth, Tander was up to seventh by lap four, carrying on to pass Paul Dumbrell’s Rod Nash Racing Falcon on lap six for seventh spot.

The two Triple Eight cars hounded the two Fords ahead of them, with Jamie Whincup snatching the lead back from Mark Winterbottom on lap 11.

Craig Lowndes and Will Davison were the first of the front runners to pit on lap 16, with Davison gaining track position on Lowndes in the pits.

Whincup and Winterbottom stopped two laps later, whilst Shane van Gisbergen was one of the last of the front runners to stop, but rejoined behind Will Davison, who had effectively picked up two positions in the pit sequence.

The safety car was called on lap 24 to recover an errant wheel which had come off the back of the #11 Kelly Racing Commodore of Greg Murphy, with Russell Ingall suffering with a similar problem with the front left not fitted correctly to his Paul Morris Motorsports Holden during his pit stop, with both cars out of the race.

After the restart, van Gisbergen lost four spots after a lock up at Turn 4 on lap 32, dropping out of third place allowing Craig Lowndes, Mark Winterbottom, Garth Tander and Alex Davison past him.

The next fight was for second place between Will Davison and Craig Lowndes, with Lowndes passing Davison on lap 41.

On lap 45, the two FPR team-mates were now battling for third, with Winterbottom trying to pass Davison on the outside at Turn 4, but Winterbottom slid wide, allowing HRT’s Garth Tander through who then managed to overtake Davison on the same lap to take the final podium spot, with Winterbottom following through into fourth place.

Whincup’s eighth win of the season sees the 28-year-old extend his lead in the Championship to 155 points over team-mate Craig Lowndes, with five races left in the 2011 season.