Jamie Whincup clinches V8 Supercars title in Sydney as Mark Winterbottom wins race
Jamie Whincup clinched his third V8 Supercars title in four years with an eighth-place finish in a tense finale in Sydney, which was won by Mark Winterbottom
Whincup's title rival Craig Lowndes finished second after a late charge up the order, but it was not enough to deny his Triple Eight Holden team-mate the crown.
The race itself was largely decided by tyre choice amid early rain showers. All bar fifth-place starter Paul Dumbrell (Rod Nash/Ford Performance Racing) left the grid on wets, but with the track less damp than anticipated, over half the field dived in for slicks at the end of the formation lap.
Poleman Will Davison (Ford Performance Racing) and the Triple Eight duo were among those who stayed on wets, with Lowndes slotting in behind Davison early on as Whincup dropped to fifth, following James Courtney (Holden Racing Team) and Dumbrell, although the points leader moved back to third on lap six when Courtney and Dumbrell slid off and down the order as the rain briefly returned.
Conditions soon improved, though, with the leaders all coming in around lap 12, allowing those who had already taken slicks to hit the front, led initially by Tony D'Alberto, while Davison, Lowndes and Whincup fell to 14th, 15th and 20th respectively.
D'Alberto was soon passed by Winterbottom, Lee Holdsworth (Garry Rogers Holden) and Dumbrell, before plunging down the order when he had to take to an escape road to avoid a dive from HRT's Garth Tander. A suspension breakage later led to D'Alberto's race ending in a heavy impact with the barriers.
Dumbrell passed Holdsworth for second heading into the second half of the race and proceeded to put pressure on Winterbottom, while Lowndes and Whincup made it back up to seventh and ninth approaching the final stops, despite both losing ground in separate close calls with Paul Morris Holden driver Russell Ingall.
A clash between Todd Kolly and Tander on lap 49 triggered a safety car and meant a very congested pitlane for the final stops. The lead order did not change and Lowndes managed to get out in eighth, but Whincup had to queue behind his team-mate and tumbled to 17th.
The title rivals started charging forward after the restart, and though Lowndes made rapid progress, Whincup soon reached the 12th place he required to secure the championship whatever his team-mate did.
Lowndes made it up to second five laps from the end when Dumbrell spun and was collected by Holdsworth - this incident and a separate crash for Will Davison prompting a final safety car and a two-lap sprint finish.
Winterbottom was able to resist Lowndes and win by 0.7 seconds, with Shane van Gisbergen third for Stone Brothers Ford ahead of Tekno's Jonathon Webb, Ingall, Michael Caruso (Garry Rogers Holden), Courtney and the euphoric Whincup.
Results - 74 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Mark Winterbottom FPR Ford 2h05m05.2756s 2. Craig Lowndes Triple 8 Holden + 0.7262s 3. Shane van Gisbergen Stone Brothers Ford + 3.6979s 4. Jonathon Webb Tekno Ford + 4.5098s 5. Russell Ingall Paul Morris Holden + 5.1877s 6. Michael Caruso Garry Rogers Holden + 5.7372s 7. James Courtney HRT Holden + 6.2372s 8. Jamie Whincup Triple 8 Holden + 7.3235s 9. Jason Bright Brad Jones Holden + 8.1556s 10. Tim Slade Rosenberg/SBR Ford + 8.6815s 11. Greg Murphy Kelly Holden + 9.1098s 12. Rick Kelly Kelly Holden + 9.4990s 13. David Reynolds Kelly Holden + 10.9123s 14. Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Ford + 11.2880s 15. Steve Owen Paul Morris Holden + 14.7012s 16. Todd Kelly Kelly Holden + 8 laps 17. Jason Bargwanna Brad Jones Holden + 10 laps 18. Karl Reindler Britek Holden + 10 laps 19. Garth Tander HRT Holden + 11 laps Retirements: Will Davison FPR Ford 69 laps Paul Dumbrell Rod Nash/FPR Ford 69 laps Lee Holdsworth Garry Rogers Holden 68 laps Dean Fiore Triple F Ford 55 laps Tony D'Alberto D'Alberto Ford 31 laps Alex Davison Stone Brothers Ford 30 laps Warren Luff Dumbrell Holden 23 laps Fabian Coulthard Walkinshaw Holden 1 lap James Moffat Dick Johnson Ford 1 lap
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments