Lowndes wins, Whincup takes provisional championship

Craig Lowndes won the second race of the day at Winton, whilst third place was enough to provisionally secure Jamie Whincup the 2012 V8 Supercars drivers’ title with one race to go.

Whincup led into the first corner in his Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodore ahead of Will Davison’s Ford Performance Racing Falcon, but lost out to Davison at Turn 10 to lead, with his FPR team-mate in third and the second Triple Eight car of Craig Lowndes down in fourth.

At the first round of pit stops though it went wrong for Whincup, as he spun his rear wheels whilst exiting the pit box which earned him a drive-through penalty. That dropped him down to 22nd place, but he was able to bounce back and finish third, which gives him a 317 point advantage with just 300 points remaining to be scored at Sydney Olympic Park.

A late race charge for Craig Lowndes saw him pass Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom to take the lead, and win his sixth race of the season.

Davison faltered on the hard tyres later in the race, which saw him drop down to 11th place.

Shane van Gisbergen finished fourth for Stone Brothers Racing, with team-mate Tim Slade fifth and Jason Bright sixth for Brad Jones Racing.

Whincup’s title is provisional as points penalties can be awarded to drivers which could see him potentially lose points in the standings.

The final round of the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship is at Sydney Olympic Park on 1st-2nd December.