Whincup makes it two from two

From pole position, Whincup made a great start and apart from a couple of laps during the first round of pitstops led from start-to-finish to recover some of the ground he has lost in recent races.

Rick Kelly followed up his third place in race one with second in race two, and was the only driver able to stay close to Whincup in the second half of the race. In a repeat of race one, Garth Tander moved up through the order in his Holden Racing Team Commodore during the race to finish third after starting 12th.

In an even bigger climb up the order Jim Beam Racing's James Courtney finished just behind Tander in fourth after starting the race down in 18th position. Fujitsu Racing's Jason Bright completed the top-five finishers.

Whincup's team-mate Craig Lowndes finished seventh after a busy race, three times being all but spun by Jason Bargwanna as well as a late turn-in at Doohan Corner forcing Lowndes onto the inside kerb.

Eventually, exiting Honda Hairpin on lap 25, Bargwanna spun after he moved across the nose of Lowndes' car on the exit and light contact was made. However, as Lowndes saved his car after each contact, then despite the contact between the two cars not being only one-way Lowndes may yet be the one to pay a penalty in the end.

With Whincup winning the race, 11th place was not what Will Davison needed but it was all he was able to salvage. Remarkably, his finishing position could have been worse.

Davison benefited from a drivethrough penalty for Todd Kelly while running in fifth, a tyre problem that forced Steven Johnson to pit after running in third, and Jason Richards making contact with a lapped Greg Murphy which saw Alex Davison fall off in sympathy.

In fact, lap two contact at Doohan Corner when Shane van Gisbergen punted Mark Winterbottom out of third place, forcing Winterbottom's retirement soon after, means Davison may well have finished five places higher than he could have, and he could still gain two more places if both van Gisbergen and Lowndes receive penalties.

However, the whole field was lucky to survive unscathed a mid-race safety car period after the safety car sat just past the pit exit, just over the crest of the pit straight. Despite the leader exiting the pits and flashing its headlights at the safety car it remained stationary.

While aware of not being allowed to pass the safety car unless waved past, the leading drivers were wary of cars who hadn't just pitted and would be near race-pace as they tried to maintain position, and so the leaders moved slowly past the safety car.

It was lucky they did so, because as they did so, the cars on the race track approached at speed as they tried to get ahead of the leading cars who had just pitted. Luckily drivers avoided an incident, but an incident involving the two Jim Beam cars and Todd Kelly was only narrowly avoided, an incident which also may have collected the safety car.

With two rounds remaining and 600 points up for grabs, Whincup has eked out a small lead over Davison again of 122 points. Davison's team-mate Garth Tander still remains an outside chance, 340 points behind Whincup in third, while Whincup's team-mate Craig Lowndes' title hopes are officially over, 613 points off his team-mate's total.

Pos  Driver                Make                  Time
 1.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon FG        1:17:54.0865
 2.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +     5.2129
 3.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE   +    13.3491
 4.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        +    15.0831
 5.  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon FG        +    18.7172
 6.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        +    20.0288
 7.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon FG        +    26.1522
 8.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE   +    27.4069
 9.  Fabian Coulthard      Ford Falcon FG        +    28.7205
10.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE   +    31.2659
11.  Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE   +    33.1736
12.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        +    33.7595
13.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE   +    34.2639
14.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        +    35.1248
15.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE   +    39.4251
16.  Tim Slade             Holden Commodore VE   +    43.4473
17.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE   +    47.7674
18.  David Reynolds        Holden Commodore VE   +    48.9194
19.  Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE   +    51.6028
20.  Michael Patrizi       Ford Falcon BF        +    55.8708
21.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +  1:01.5685
22.  Mark McNally          Holden Commodore VE   +  1:03.4018
23.  Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE   +  1:05.7095
24.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG        +  1:14.6214
25.  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VE   +  1:26.0015
26.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE   +     1 lap
27.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE   +     1 lap

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make                  Laps
     Dean Fiore            Holden Commodore VE    18
     Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG          1