Photo: Red Bull Holden Team

Jamie Whincup scores his first win of 2017 at Townsville

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Jamie Whincup claimed his first Supercars victory of 2017 for Triple Eight Race Engineering, beating pole sitter and previous race winner Scott McLaughlin by close to two seconds.

DJR Team Penske driver McLaughlin claimed the lead of the race at the start, with Whincup having to fight his way past David Reynolds who held second initially.

Whincup gained on McLaughlin as the race progressed and was able to pass the Ford driver after the first pit stop, taking advantage of stopping earlier and being on warm tyres when the Kiwi rejoined the track.

The second stop saw McLaughlin getting ahead briefly, only for Whincup to repeat the same procedure to get ahead as in the first stop.

McLaughlin’s team-mate and former championship leader Fabian Coulthard had another dreadful race to finish 21st. The Ford Falcon driver turned Tim Slade into a spin at the start of the race and was given a 15-second penalty.

Reigning champion Shane van Gisbergen crossed the line in third position ahead of the Prodrive Racing Australia duo of Mark Winterbottom in fourth and Chaz Mostert in fifth.

The Garry Rogers Motorsport duo of Garth Tander and James Moffat claimed positions six and seventh, climbing a good number of positions during the race, starting from the back of the grid.

Whincup’s victory is his 105th, equalling team-mate Craig Lowndes, who finished 10th in the race today, Supercars/ATCC victory record.