Photo: Supercars

Jamie Whincup claims vital victory over Scott McLaughlin in New Zealand

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Championship leader Jamie Whincup claimed a vital victory over local hero Scott McLaughlin in the second Supercars championship race at Pukekohe in New Zealand.

The duo ran close throughout the race, with both teams trying to outsmart each other with pit stop strategies. The Triple Eight Race Engineering driver however managed to keep ahead to win by close to six seconds over the DJR Team Penske driver.

The victory has Whincup in the championship lead by 30 points over McLaughlin with just one race weekend remaining.

Prodrive Racing Australia driver Cameron Waters claimed the final podium position in third after a controversial start to the race.

Waters went down the inside of team-mate Mark Winterbottom at the hairpin on the first lap of the race, sending the Ford driver into his team-mate Chaz Mostert who spun and was collected by Winterbottom.

Winterbottom finished 19th, a lap behind, while Mostert was able to recover to finish seventh.

Another disaster struck reigning champion Shane van Gisbergen who had a big blow to his title hopes as he struck the back of Brad Jones Racing driver Tim Slade while heading into the pits for a stop. Van Gisbergen had to stop for lengthy repairs and dropped down to finish 24th, 14 laps behind the leaders, and is a massive 276 points behind team-mate Whincup in the championship.

Craig Lowndes finished fourth for Triple Eight Race Engineering with Fabian Coulthard, who crashed and rolled in yesterday’s opening race, in fifth and Garth Tander sixth for Garry Rogers Motorsport.