Photo: supercars.com

Jamie Whincup heads Triple Eight 1-2-3 in the Sandown 500

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Jamie Whincup and co-driver Paul Dumbrell headed a Triple Eight Race Engineering 1-2-3 in the Sandown 500 race with championship leader Shane van Gisbergen in second and Craig Lowndes in third.

“I couldn’t be happier. The car has been awesome all weekend, PD did a fantastic job, but it’s not over until it’s over,” said Whincup to supercars.com.

“We just kept our head down, kept concentrating, this race has gotten away from us a few times, but thankfully it was a nice and clean race.”

Dumbrell started the race and immediately pulled away into a strong lead that the duo kept throughout the race despite several safety car sessions.

The first safety car intervention came on lap 23, when Nissan Motorsport driver Dean Fiore stopped on track after a clash with the Holden of James Courtney. Fiore had severe front-right damage on his Altima but managed to limp back into the pits.

The second safety car was when Charlie Schwerkolt Racing driver Jason Bright outbraked himself and beached the #18 Holden Commodore in the gravel.

Van Gisbergen’s co-driver Earl Bamber started the race from eleventh on the grid and the duo steadily made their way up through the field.

The championship leader made his way past DJR Team Penske driver Fabian Coulthard for third on lap 81 and claimed second place from team-mate Lowndes 42 laps later.

Van Gisbergen extended his championship over main title rival Scott McLaughlin as the DJR Team Penske driver lacked pace against the Triple Eight trio all weekend, finishing fourth, 25 seconds adrift.

McLaughlin came under pressure from Erebus Motorsport driver David Reynolds toward the end of the race but was able to stay ahead, with the duo crossing the finishing line with a mere six-tenths of a second between them.

Scott Pye finished a strong sixth with co-driver Warren Luff starting 19th, making up a total of 13 places during the race in the Walkinshaw Andretti United-prepared Holden Commodore. Coulthard finished seventh ahead of the top Nissan driver Rick Kelly with co-driver Garry Jacobson.

Four races remain of the 2018 Supercars championship season, with van Gisbergen now leading McLaughlin by 55 points, and 338 points ahead of Whincup in third.

The next race is the legendary Bathurst 1000 on October 7th.