Winterbottom wins race, Whincup wins title

Mark Winterbottom took his second win of the season in a dramatic season finale at Sydney Olympic Park ahead of a hard charging Craig Lowndes, whilst Jamie Whincup claims his third title for Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Will Davison had claimed pole position for the second time this weekend in the sister Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon, with Championship leader Jamie Whincup sharing the front row with rival and team-mate Lowndes starting fourth.

A damp track saw most drivers start the parade lap on wets, but on the exploratory lap the majority of the field opted to pit for slicks before the race start.

Of those that took the start on the grid, a sluggish start from Whincup saw Lowndes get the run on the inside and straight through into second place, with James Courtney’s Holden Racing Team Commodore up into third splitting the two Triple Eight drivers.

The ‘second’ race start in the pit lane saw trouble for James Moffat in the DJR Ford Falcon. Moffat tried to merge with the single file queue next to Stone Brothers Racing’s Tim Slade, with the two making contact in the pit lane. Further contact around the lap between Moffat and Walkinshaw Racing’s Fabian Coulthard saw the pair elimated from the race on lap one.

Whincup struggled in the early stages, falling behind Paul Dumbrell’s Rod Nash Racing Falcon to fifth position, but as the rain began to fall again, the patchy conditions caught out James Courtney and Dumbrell, with both spinning off at Turn 9 promoting Whincup back to third.

By lap 12, the conditions were near dry which saw the leading trio pit for slick tyres, with Whincup losing time having to stack behind team-mate Lowndes.

Tony D’Alberto assumed the lead in his Ford Falcon from Mark Winterbottom, with Will Davison now down in 14th with Craig Lowndes right behind, and Whincup now all the way down to 20th.

Winterbottom took the lead from D’Alberto on lap 16, with the first safety car of the day following on lap 25 with repairs required to one of the barriers.

The bulk of the field pitted again at this point, with Winterbottom keeping the lead with Lee Holdsworth’s Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden now up to second ahead of Paul Dumbrell, with D’Alberto down to fourth.

At the restart, Tander locked up in sixth place and looked set to spear D’Alberto, before some quick thinking from the 25-year-old, taking the escape road and avoiding the collision, but losing 20 positions in the process of rejoining.

Craig Lowndes was soon forced out of ninth by Paul Morris Motorsport’s Russell Ingall, with four cars able to get by, putting Lowndes 13th just ahead of team-mate Whincup.

The second safety car was deployed on lap 33 after a heavy crash for D’Alberto, after he suffered suspension failure at Turn 6 and went hard into the wall.

On the second restart, Lowndes picked his way up the order, re-passing Ingall, Jason Bright and Steven Johnson to move back up into ninth place.

On lap 47, Todd Kelly and Garth Tander made contact and spun, with Kelly’s Holden now with front end damage and Tander’s car with heavy damage to the rear after going backwards into the barrier. Tander’s exhaust system eventually came loose as Tander continued to circulate, which brought out the third safety car as the marshals collected the debris.

With the third safety car in the final pit window, everyone pitted again, with Whincup losing even more time queued behind Lowndes in the pits. Lowndes emerged eighth, with Whincup down in 18th at the restart. Paul Dumbrell was now up into second ahead of Holdsworth with Winterbottom still in the lead.

Lowndes was on the move at the restart, passing Greg Murphy, Jonathon Webb, Jason Bright and Shane van Gisbergen over the next ten laps to move into fourth position.

Whincup slowly worked his way up the order, passing Jason Bright, who had been spun by Webb, for 12th on lap 60, which was the key position for Whincup, with 12th the lowest he needed to finish to be sure of winning the Championship.

With five laps to go, Paul Dumbrell, in his final V8 Supercars race, spun out of second place and was collected by Lee Holdsworth’s GRM Holden, with the pair narrowly avoided by Lowndes. A short safety car period followed as Holdsworth’s car was moved into a safe position, with the restart given with two laps to go.

Whincup took a conservative approach at the restart, maintaining his distance to Russell Ingall and Michael Caruso’s Holdens ahead, whilst Winterbottom managed to hold off Lowndes at the front to take the second victory of the season for Ford Performance Racing.

Lowndes’ second place finish closed him up to within 35 points of Whincup in the Championship, but with the title ultimately going to Whincup for the third time.

Whincup has now won the 2008, 2009 and 2011 V8 Supercar titles with Triple Eight Race Engineering, matching Craig Lowndes’ tally of titles, the last of which was in 1999 with the Holden Racing Team.

The 2012 International V8 Supercars Championship begins on March 1st at the Clipsal 500 at the Adelaide street circuit.