Whincup closes in with race 2 win

Whincup jumped into the lead at the start of the race and was put under pressure early by Garth Tander. But dramas for Tander took him out of the battle for victory, leaving Whincup to take the win just ahead of Ford Performance Racing's Steven Richards.

Richards jumped ahead of his teammate Mark Winterbottom during the pit stops, the two FPR cars having a dice on lap one before settling down.

The top five was completed by a pair of Holdens, Mark Skaife benefitting from good strategy and others' misfortunes to take fourth, one place ahead of Rick Kelly.

Craig Lowndes looked set to finish fourth but went off under brakes at the hairpin on lap 44, dropping two places to finish in sixth. Next was Jason Richards for Tasman Motorsport, while eighth was James Courtney who made his second recovery drive in two races at Symmons Plains, this one ending on a happier note.

However, two places behind him Garth Tander was not so happy. Dropping to second at the start, he harassed Whincup before Whincup made his stop. A series of fast laps had him set to take the lead when he pitted six laps later.

But a pit stop that took a little longer than it should have slotted him behind Lowndes. Instead of being ahead of Whincup, he was four places behind him.

A mis-slot under braking when he selected first instead of third on lap 24 dropped him another 12 places as he toured the gravel, Tander mounting a good recovery to finish tenth.

While it was not good news for Tander, it was for everyone else in the title race. Tander continues to lead, but his lead shrunk from 31 points to 17. Whincup's win saw him leapfrog teammate Lowndes into second, Lowndes 27 points behind Tander, with Rick Kelly still hanging on 41 points down on his teammate.

Pos  Driver                Car
 1.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon BF
 2.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon BF
 3.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon BF
 4.  Mark Skaife           Holden Commodore VE
 5.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE
 6.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon BF
 7.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE
 8.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon BF
 9.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon BF
10.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE
11.  Will Davison          Ford Falcon BF
12.  Dean Canto            Holden Commodore VE
13.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE
14.  Marcus Marshall       Holden Commodore VE
15.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon BF
16.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE
17.  Max Wilson            Ford Falcon BF
18.  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon BF
19.  John Bowe             Ford Falcon BF
20.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE
21.  Paul Morris           Holden Commodore VE
22.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE
23.  Jason Bargwanna       Ford Falcon BF
24.  Simon Wills           Ford Falcon BF
25.  Steve Owen            Holden Commodore VZ
26.  Shane Price           Holden Commodore VE
27.  Andrew Jones          Ford Falcon BF
28.  Owen Kelly            Holden Commodore VZ
29.  Alan Gurr             Ford Falcon BF
30.  Russell Ingall        Ford Falcon BF
DNF  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VE