Whincup wins race two in Tasmania

Starting from pole, Whincup led most of the race after running the 'sprint' tyre at the start. But it was not plain sailing, as he exited his final pitstop with four cars just behind him, and also had to cope with three safety car periods in the final quarter of the race.

Holden Racing Team's Will Davison finished second, less than two-tenths of a second ahead of Wilson Security's Fabian Coulthard, whose decision to run the softer 'sprint' tyres at the end of the race paid off.

In fact, he may have got Davison and maybe even Whincup had the lapped Paul Dumbrell not held him up for two laps in the final four laps, Dumbrell's car being a sister car to that of Davison's.

Fourth for Mark Winterbottom was a great result after yesterday's result, but it could and probably should have been a win.

Soon after half distance he made contact with Tim Slade at the hairpin, and a few laps later he did the same with Greg Murphy, this time losing ten seconds and four places. Had he not done so, he would have been clear of Whincup after the final stops.

Lee Holdsworth and Russell Ingall were next in the order, Ingall recovering from 12th, on the grid, while Jason Bright did an even better job, moving up from 18th to seventh.

Jason Bargwanna was eighth, while Michael Patrizi moved from 23rd to ninth and Craig Lowndes from 16th to tenth completing the top ten.

Garth Tander recovered well in the end from an early flat tyre to finish in 12th place, having spent most of the first half of the race in the bottom three positions.

James Courtney's bad weekend got worse, as Dale Wood sent Courtney's car off the track hard into the wall as Courtney lapped him, forcing the latter to retire with a heavily damaged car.

This eventually led to Rick Kelly's fall down the order, as he first spun off on debris from the incident, then pitted to replace tyres damaged in the spin.

What would have been third for Kelly was now 16th, and while battling with Michael Patrizi for position, the two made contact exiting the hairpin, breaking the steering on Kelly's car. He eventually got back into the race but finished 27th, five laps down.

His team-mate and brother Todd also looked set for a top-five result before he retired at half-distance.

With the win, Whincup leads Will Davison by 96 points, with Steven Johnson a further 195 points behind Davison, Garth Tander and Lee Holdsworth next 30 points behind Johnson.

Pos  Driver                Make                  Laps
 1.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon FG         84
 2.  Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE    84
 3.  Fabian Coulthard      Ford Falcon FG         84
 4.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG         84
 5.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE    84
 6.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE    84
 7.  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon BF         84
 8.  Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE    84
 9.  Michael Patrizi       Ford Falcon BF         84
10.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon FG         84
11.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG         84
12.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE    84
13.  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VE    84
14.  Tim Slade             Holden Commodore VE    84
15.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG         84
16.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE    84
17.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE    83
18.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG         83
19.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE    83
20.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG         83
21.  Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE    83
22.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE    82
23.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE    82
24.  Marcus Marshall       Ford Falcon BF         83
25.  Dean Fiore            Holden Commodore VE    81
26.  David Reynolds        Holden Commodore VE    81
27.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    79

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make                  Laps
     James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG         59
     Dale Wood             Holden Commodore VE    58
     Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    43