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Whincup and Bourdais claim victory in opening race at Surfers Paradise

Jamie Whincup claimed his fifth Surfers Paradise win and with it the championship lead as he and Sebastien Bourdais took victory in the opening race of V8 Supercars' Gold Coast 600

Having secured pole, a dominant opening stint by Bourdais - against the other international drivers - put the #88 Triple Eight Holden more than 10 seconds clear of the field by the time they handed over to the series regulars on lap 34.

As if to underline that point Bourdais stayed out one lap longer than the rest of the leaders before handing over to Whincup, who had a massive 13s margin when he rejoined.

That was almost completely wiped out by a safety car period on lap 49 and again on lap 90, but on both occasions Whincup was able to maintain his advantage. In claiming victory he moved back into the lead of the championship, while Bourdais becomes the first man to win in IndyCars and in V8 Supercars on the Gold Coast.

"I love the streets of the Gold Coast," Whincup said. "Sebastien did an awesome job, he handed it over to me in the perfect position and it was just up to me to bring it home."

The #88 Holden's task was made easier as problems dogged the sister #888 Triple Eight of Andy Priaulx and erstwhile points leader Craig Lowndes, its main rival during practice.

Priaulx stopped twice on his way to the grid, and it was not until lap 20 that he was able to get actually start the race. He set several fastest laps before handing over to Lowndes, only for a punctured radiator to end their challenge at around half distance.

Instead, Whincup and Bourdais' main challenge came from the FPR Ford of Will Davison and Mika Salo, which finished second.

The HRT Holden of Garth Tander and Ryan Briscoe was also in the mix until Briscoe pitted on lap 33, one lap shy of the minimum tally each driver had to complete. The duo therefore had to pit again, and dropped down the order as a result.

Third was claimed by the FPR Ford of Mark Winterbottom and Richard Lyons, which came through from 17th on the grid.

Ford's James Moffat and Joey Hand claimed fourth on the penultimate lap of the race, while the Walkinshaw Holden of Fabian Coulthard and Pat Long snatched fifth on the final tour - Greg Murphy/Oliver Gavin in the #11 Kelly Holden therefore dropping two places on the last two laps to end sixth.

Race 1 Results - 102 laps:
Pos  Driver                 Team/Car                  Time/Gap
 1.  Whincup/Bourdais       Triple 8 Holden      2h13m21.5515s
 2.  Davison/Salo           FPR Ford                 + 2.1902s
 3.  Winterbottom/Lyons     FPR Ford                 + 2.4683s
 4.  Moffat/Hand            Dick Johnson Ford        + 2.7719s
 5.  Coulthard/Long         Walkinshaw Holden        + 5.8433s
 6.  Murphy/Gavin           Kelly Holden             + 7.1366s
 7.  Kelly/Bergmeister      Kelly Holden            + 12.4330s
 8.  Caruso/Farfus Jr       Garry Rogers Holden     + 13.6039s
 9.  Webb/de Ferran         Tekno Ford              + 15.0193s
10.  Holdsworth/Pagenaud    Garry Rogers Holden     + 16.8085s
11.  Tander/Briscoe         HRT Holden              + 16.8226s
12.  Slade/Castroneves      Rosenberg/SBR Ford      + 17.0690s
13.  Kelly/Westbrook        Kelly Holden            + 17.4326s
14.  Courtney/Turner        HRT Holden              + 20.6768s
15.  Dumbrell/Klein         Rod Nash/FPR Ford       + 22.0608s
16.  Van Gisbergen/Pirro    Stone Brothers Ford     + 23.8801s
17.  Bargwanna/Simonsen     Brad Jones Holden       + 25.8878s
18.  Owen/Said              Paul Morris Holden      + 28.9258s
19.  Reynolds/Tagliani      Kelly Holden              + 2 laps
20.  Fiore/Morbidelli       Triple F Ford             + 2 laps
21.  Bright/Sarrazin        Brad Jones Holden         + 3 laps
22.  Ingall/Magnussen       Paul Morris Holden        + 5 laps
23.  Davison/Lieb           Stone Brothers Ford      + 24 laps
                                                  
Retirements:

     D'Alberto/Liuzzi       D'Alberto Ford             75 laps
     Lowndes/Priaulx        Triple 8 Holden            52 laps
     Johnson/Muller         Dick Johnson Ford          24 laps
     Luff/Franchitti        Dumbrell Holden            14 laps

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