Sydney V8 Supercars: Whincup wins, Lowndes and Winterbottom collide

Whincup came into the weekend with a 20-point lead over Triple Eight team-mate Lowndes and 300 points available from the two races on the street track around Olympic Park.

While Whincup put his Holden on pole ahead of title contender Mark Winterbottom, Lowndes made a mistake in the top 10 shootout and started back in 10th.

Whincup had a poor getaway and was swamped by Winterbottom and Shane van Gisbergen, but then threw his car down the inside into Turn 1.

As he slid sideways, Whincup took Winterbottom and van Gisbergen out wide, allowing Jonathon Webb to slice into the lead.

It took just three laps for Whincup to dive back past the Tekno Holden and he controlled the race thereafter.

Winterbottom and Lowndes pitted out of sequence to try to clear traffic, and rose to third and fourth behind Whincup and Webb when everyone else stopped during the first safety car period.

Lowndes overtook Winterbottom on the restart lap, but the Ford then ran into the back of the Holden and spun it.

The Commodore bounced back off the tyres and into Winterbottom, who was then collected by David Reynolds.

Remarkably all three cars continued, but the day would get worse still for Lowndes and Winterbottom.

Lowndes could not get a full fuel load into his damaged car at the final stops and had to pit again. That dropped him to 22nd, from where he could only recover to 15th, leaving him 110 points adrift with 150 available on Sunday.

FORD DRIVERS' TITLE BIDS END

Winterbottom's battered car (pictured) survived until Tony D'Alberto clipped the wall in front of him, causing a chain reaction with Winterbottom and Jason Bright that sent the Ford firmly into the barriers and out of the title fight.

Behind Whincup and Webb, van Gisbergen claimed what could be a tenuous third place.

He lost ground in the congested pitlane during the first stops under the safety car, clashed with Tim Blanchard, then secured the final podium position in a penultimate lap lunge that sent Fabian Coulthard into the wall.

Fourth-placed Bright stands to gain if Coulthard is penalised.

Will Davison's championship bid ended as he could only manage fifth, ahead of D'Alberto.

Nissan got three cars in the top 10, with Michael Caruso (from 24th on the grid), Rick and Todd Kelly in seventh, ninth and 10th, surrounding Tim Slade's Erebus Mercedes.

Garth Tander came from last to eighth following a massive qualifying crash, only to suffer brake problems and fall back again.

Results - 74 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                        Time/Gap
 1.  Jamie Whincup        Triple Eight Holden        2h02m28.2246s
 2.  Jonathon Webb        Tekno Holden                    +1.7910s
 3.  Shane van Gisbergen  Tekno Holden                    +3.7742s
 4.  Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden               +4.5035s
 5.  Will Davison         FPR Ford                        +5.7849s
 6.  Tony D'Alberto       D'Alberto Holden                +9.6494s
 7.  Michael Caruso       Nissan                         +10.9204s
 8.  Tim Slade            Rosenberg/Erebus Mercedes      +11.2380s
 9.  Rick Kelly           Nissan                         +11.7229s
10.  Todd Kelly           Nissan                         +12.0704s
11.  David Reynolds       Rod Nash/FPR Ford              +12.8817s
12.  Alex Davison         Schwerkolt/FPR Ford            +13.5513s
13.  Alexandre Premat     Garry Rogers Holden            +14.4161s
14.  Garth Tander         HRT Holden                     +14.7757s
15.  Craig Lowndes        Triple Eight Holden            +15.8193s
16.  David Wall           Britek/BJR Holden              +17.4227s
17.  Dean Fiore           Dumbrell Holden                +18.5240s
18.  Nick Percat          HRT Holden                     +19.9741s
19.  Fabian Coulthard     Brad Jones Holden              +56.1569s
20.  James Moffat         Nissan                            +1 lap
21.  Chaz Mostert         Dick Johnson Ford                +4 laps
22.  Russell Ingall       Walkinshaw/HRT Holden           +14 laps
23.  Lee Holdsworth       Erebus Mercedes                 +17 laps

Retirements:

     Scott Pye            Dumbrell Holden                  62 laps
     Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford                         62 laps
     Maro Engel           Erebus Mercedes                  53 laps
     Tim Blanchard        Dick Johnson Ford                16 laps
     Scott McLaughlin     Garry Rogers Holden              10 laps