Whincup wins strategy intense opener at Adelaide

Jamie Whincup has begun his defence of his Championship title in style, taking victory at the first race of the season at Adelaide with an alternative pit strategy, passing Ford Performance Racing’s Will Davison on the final lap.

The race had become one of strategy in its final phase, with Jamie Whincup having opted for three pit stops whilst the rest of the front runners were on a more conventional two-stop approach.

Whincup’s Triple Eight team-mate Craig Lowndes had the early pace, starting from pole position, but Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander got the jump as the lights went out to take the lead.

The first safety car was called on lap six after three cars were eliminated, with a mechanical failure on James Courtney’s HRT Commodore which launched him into the wall at Turn 8, with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport’s Taz Douglas and Brad Jones Racing’s Jason Bright following him.

At the restart, Lowndes quickly took the lead back from Tander as the front runners bunched up at Turn 8, which in turn saw Jamie Whincup lose third spot to FPR’s Will Davison.

Triple Eight opted for a different strategy for Whincup, bringing the reigning champion in on lap 17.

As the leaders cycled through their first of two pit stops at around lap 26, Whincup emerged in the lead but would need to stop twice more, whilst Will Davison had moved ahead of Craig Lowndes on the track during the pit stops.

Whincup took his second stop on lap 40, relinquishing the lead to Davison, five laps before the pivotal second safety car period of the race. The safety car was as a result of Rod Nash Racing’s David Reynolds crashing out at Turn 8 at exactly the spot James Courtney had at the beginning of the race.

This saw those on the two stop strategy take their final planned stop at the absolute edge of the pit stop window, whilst Jamie Whincup stayed out and moved up to third.

When the race restarted, Craig Lowndes slid back from fourth place with what turned out to be a right-rear tyre puncture and pitted, eliminating the pole-sitter from contention. Davison lead the way briefly, before Whincup, who would definitely need to stop again, leapt into the lead on lap 52 and began to pull away.

HRT realised Garth Tander would also need to stop before the end of the race and ended Tander’s fuel save run, allowing him to pass Davison for second, which immediately became the lead when Whincup took his final stop on lap 66 and dropped to seventh place.

Six laps from the end of the race, Tander pitted from the lead and dropped to fifth, whilst Whincup was already up to third and chasing down the two leading Ford Performance Racing cars of Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom, who were conserving fuel and confident of making the finish.

Davison had more than a five second gap on team-mate Winterbottom when Whincup passed Winterbottom’s Ford Falcon with four laps to go.

Winterbottom’s strategy didn’t pay off, as he was forced to pit on the last lap, whilst Whincup was now right behind Davison as they headed on the straight for the final time.

Davison’s car spluttered through Turn 8 as the car began to run out of fuel and Whincup darted into the lead to win the first race of the season, with Davison creeping across the line to take the points for second, stopping at the pit lane exit.

Garth Tander completed the podium whilst Craig Lowndes bounced back from his tyre failure, and no fuel concerns after taking fuel during his extra stop to finish in fourth. Lee Holdsworth finished fifth on his debut for Stone Brothers Racing, having started 15th.

The second 78 lap race around the Adelaide Park Circuit takes place at 14:35 local time on Sunday.