Jamie Whincup wins eventful second race at Pukekohe Park

Jamie Whincup claimed his first victory of the season in an eventful second race at Pukekohe Park. The Red Bull Racing Australia driver only just won the race, surviving a last lap attack from Mark Winterbottom.

Winterbottom had closed in on Whincup in the very last part of the race and threw his car on the inside of the Holden driver with a few corner left. The attack resulted in a caved in door for Whincup and a spin for Winterbottom, dropping him to 13th position.

“I had seen Whincup make a few mistakes over that side of the track earlier and knew that was my real chance of grabbing the lead. We had better race pace toward the end and I had to give it a shot,” said Winterbottom to Speedcafe.com.

There was further drama all through the race, with pole man Fabian Coulthard jumping the start and received a 10 second penalty to be added after the race. The Lockwood Racing made a strong effort to pull away to a 10 second lead, but ended up in 10th position in the end, despite finishing second.

The race was interrupted by two safety car periods, with the first being triggered by Tim Slade, spinning his Mercedes and stopping in the middle of the track. The second safety car period came shortly after the first as Jason Bright and James Courtney made contact in the restart, resulting in a spin to the gravel for Courtney.

Will Davison claimed second position ahead of Garth Tander in third. Bright secured fourth ahead of David Reynolds and Shane van Gisbergen.

Rick Kelly took Nissan’s best finish so far this year in seventh position, ahead of Alexandre Prémat and James Moffat.

The V8 Supercars weekend in New Zealand continues tomorrow with two further 100 km races.