Whincup extends lead with Townsville double

Jamie Whincup extended his championship lead in V8 Supercars to 100 points with a double victory on the streets of Townsville.

Mark Winterbottom came into the seventh weekend of the season in third in the standings, 49 points behind Whincup, and the Ford Performance Racing driver started Saturday’s race from pole position.

He held the lead initially, despite being beaten off the line by the FPR-supported Rod Nash-entered Falcon of David Reynolds alongside him on the front row. The safety car came out at the end of the first lap after a collision between Karl Reindler and Dean Fiore.

Steve Owen started the race sixth, but was the first of those to start the race on soft tyres and used that to move up the order after the restart, passing Winterbottom for the lead on lap 11.

Winterbottom was back in the lead after the first stops were completed, and began stretching his advantage over Owen before it was eliminated by a second safety car period.

At the restart the TeamVodafone pairing of Whincup and Craig Lowndes found their way past Owen for second and third before the safety car was back out a few laps later following a collision involving Jason Bright.

The leaders all came in, with Lowndes and Will Davison plummeting down the order after being queued behind their respective team-mates Whincup and Winterbottom.

Whincup dived past Winterbottom for the lead at the restart after the Ford driver brushed the wall passing a slower car. Having been forced into stopping early by the safety car, the leaders were running light on fuel in the closing stages but Whincup held on to win by just over a second.

After starting on softs and running in the lead for a while after Owen’s first stop, Garth Tander came through to finish third for the Holden Racing Team from tenth on the grid.

Fabian Coulthard was fourth ahead of Lowndes who recovered well to fifth. Reynolds and Owen were next, with Rick Kelly, Lee Holdsworth and James Courtney completing the top ten.

Reynolds went one better in Sunday’s qualifying to score his maiden pole position.
Jonathon Webb and James Courtney were the men to run softs early on and used that to move into the lead, but Reynolds was back ahead after the first stops were completed.

His FPR team-mates Winterbottom and Davison followed ahead of Lowndes and Whincup, who nearly collided when Lowndes accidentally hit the pit-lane speed limiter mid-corner. Lowndes recovered to follow Winterbottom into the pits and then jump ahead.

Reynolds, Whincup and Davison came in the next time around, running quite literally bumper-to-bumper at pit entry. Reynolds lost out, with Whincup leading Davidson out of the pits and Whincup beating Lowndes into what became the lead of the race once all had stopped.

The safety car made a sole appearance on lap 59 after Fabian Coulthard stopped, just after Lowndes had got by Whincup at turn 11 only to be passed again as he ran wide.

After the restart Whincup held off more heavy pressure from Lowndes to win, while Davison completed the podium. Tander took fifth from Reynolds when the latter ran off course at the safety car restart and then got by Winterbottom for fourth before the finish.

Shane Van Gisbergen was seventh, with Webb, Michael Patrizi and Bright filling positions eight to ten.

Whincup now heads Winterbottom by 100 points, with Davison a further 40 behind. They will be racing again in Queensland at Ipswich on 4-5 August.

Catch V8 Supercar coverage on Motors TV throughout 2012.


Peter Allen