Whincup wins opener in Abu Dhabi

Whincup dropped to second at the start but took the lead back from Mark Winterbottom on lap seven. Taking on more fuel at the first round of stops, he dropped to third before closing in on Will Davison for second, the two having a vigorous battle that was resolved in Whincup's favour when Davison outbraked himself on lap 21.

From there, a shorter fill than his rivals at his second stop popped him back into a comfortable lead, the only issue scare coming on the final lap with the two Team Vodafone cars running low on fuel, Whincup, second-placed Lowndes and Winterbottom covered by less than two seconds at the chequered flag.

Winterbottom had recovered well after having to wait ten seconds after his first stop after he was penalised for not lining up correctly on the starting grid, starting to the left of his grid position, dropping down to seventh before making his way back up the order.

James Courtney and Lee Holdsworth completed the top five, having spent most of the race dicing with each other, Shane van Gisbergen taking sixth despite contact on the opening lap dropping him down to 19th place.

After swapping marques during the off-season, seventh was a great result for Paul Dumbrell, despite losing a position to van Gisbergen in the closing laps. Even more impressive was Jonathon Webb in eighth in his first solo race in the main game. Alex Davison and Rick Kelly completed the top ten.

After qualifying at the front of the field, a slow getaway at the start cost Jason Bright dearly, completing lap one in 23rd place on the way to an eventual finish of 21st which saw Bright nearly stop in the wrong pit bay as well as make a stop with three laps remaining for a splash of fuel.

With Team Vodafone's switch from Ford to Holden being such a success, their fiercest rivals Holden Racing Team had a race they won't want to remember. Even before the race had started, Garth Tander was sent to the back of the grid thanks to a penalty for an issue relating to working under the car in an unsafe manner during the qualifying session.

Starting at the rear meant that Tander got caught up in an incident on lap two which caused damage to the front of the car, leading to repairs which cost him several laps, eventually finishing 26th.

His team-mate Will Davison looked good for a likely top-five finish, despite fading in the middle of the race, but at two-thirds distance his race literally went up in smoke with an engine failure.

Pos  Driver                Make                  Time
 1.  Jamie Whincup         Holden Commodore VE   1h28m04.434s
 2.  Craig Lowndes         Holden Commodore VE   +     0.939s
 3.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG        +     1.952s
 4.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        +    11.878s
 5.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE   +    13.021s
 6.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        +    22.231s
 7.  Paul Dumbrell         Ford Falcon FG        +    23.664s
 8.  Jonathon Webb         Ford Falcon FG        +    31.270s
 9.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        +    35.300s
10.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +    37.590s
11.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG        +    38.272s
12.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE   +    40.993s
13.  Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE   +    42.733s
14.  Tim Slade             Ford Falcon FG        +    43.909s
15.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE   +    45.779s
16.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        +  1m00.078s
17.  Fabian Coulthard      Holden Commodore VE   +  1m01.301s
18.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE   +  1m18.450s
19.  Andrew Thompson       Holden Commodore VE   +  1m22.548s
20.  Dean Fiore            Ford Falcon FG        +  1m36.729s
21.  Jason Bright          Holden Commodore VE   +  1m50.239s
22.  Daniel Gaunt          Holden Commodore VE   +  1m51.668s
23.  Paul Morris           Holden Commodore VE   +     1 lap
24.  Tony Ricciardello     Holden Commodore VE   +     1 lap
25.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +     3 laps
26.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE   +     7 laps
27.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE   +     9 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make                  Laps
     Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE    28
     Karl Reindler         Holden Commodore VE    23