Jamie Whincup dominates Supercars season opener
Jamie Whincup has put himself at the top of the championship order for the first time since the close of 2017 with victory in the opening race of 2020, cruising from lights to flag for his 119th Supercars race win.
After qualifying on pole for the opening 250km race, the Triple Eight driver eased away to victory with minimal pressure through the 78 lap outing, coming home well clear of the angry pack behind him.
Getting the holeshot off the line, Whincup led the opening laps from the Erebus Motorsport car of David Reynolds, slowly extending a lead over the #9 car to comfortably lead in the early round of pit stops.
The fight for second was the one to watch throughout the race, as many as six cars in the hunt for the second step on the podium with Reynolds engaged between the Tickford cars of Will Davison and Cam Waters, reigning champion Scott McLaughlin, Triple Eight’s Shane van Gisbergen and Walkinshaw Andretti United recruit Chaz Mostert.
McLaughlin was the first driver in the race to stop, coming in on lap eight to be out of sequence and in clear air. The strategy gave the DJR Team Penske driver the race lead through a majority of the second stint with the pain of a long second stop yet to come.
van Gisbergen got himself away from a heated battle between Davison, Mostert and Waters behind with the three ex-Tickford team mates exchanging paint in the battle for a top five spot.
As everyone cycled through for their last stops of the day, Whincup emerged as the clear race leader, having a handy margin over McLaughlin who had to fight to keep fellow New Zealander van Gisbergen behind, not helped by Scott Pye’s Team 18 entry holding him up in the absence of blue flags.
Reynolds led the scrap for the first spot off the podium, getting a margin over Davison, Waters and Mostert as the seventh placed driver enjoyed a ten second margin over Mark Winterbottom, sitting eighth in the #18 Team 18 Commodore.
McLaughlin and van Gisbergen continued to trade lap times in the scrap for second, the #97 Triple Eight car having better tyre life than the defending champion’s #17 DJR Team Penske entry but unable to get by, leaving the battle at somewhat of a stalemate in the closing laps.
No one could come close to Whincup out front, coming home for victory 119 and his first back-to-back wins since the end of 2016 thanks to the 150 points he took in last year’s final outing.
For the first time since late 2018, McLaughlin doesn’t lead the championship but going into tomorrow’s race sitting second to Whincup after holding up van Gisbergen, becoming the Ford meat in the Holden sandwich.
Reynolds ended up on top of the battle for fourth ahead of Davison, Waters and Mostert while Winterbottom came home in eighth as Rick Kelly and Fabian Coulthard scrapped to the flag in the Kelly Racing and DJR Team Penske Ford Mustangs.
Qualifying for tomorrow’s 250km race starts at 1150 local time with a shootout finalising the grid before the 78 lap outing, getting under way at 1520.
