Whincup recovers to win race 1

After recovering back up to third from an electrical repair which cost him twenty seconds at his first stop, a late-race safety car period put him back in contention for the win. A pass on teammate Craig Lowndes on lap 71, and four laps later on leader Winterbottom saw Whincup take a win he was not expecting after his first pit stop.

However, the drama for Whincup is not over yet, with his move on Winterbottom being investigated by the stewards after Whincup made light contact as Winterbottom turned in to the corner.

Whincup's earlier pass on Steven Richards for third may also come under investigation, although the contact was more side-to-side than in the Winterbottom incident.

Winterbottom held on to finish second, just ahead of Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes and Valvoline Cummins driver Lee Holdsworth who was the top Holden finisher just ahead of Winterbottom's teammate Steven Richards.

The start of the race saw James Courtney first into turn one ahead of Garth Tander, with pole man Jamie Whincup dropping to third as teammate Lowndes leaped from sixth to fourth.

But Tander dived inside Courtney at the hairpin before lap one was over, and took the lead. Four laps later, Courtney repaid the favour, retaking the lead and began to open a lead on the field behind him.

Most of the field made their first compulsory stop around lap 30, Whincup choosing to make his second stop soon after. A few laps later, second-placed Tander found Lowndes pm his tail, before Tander pitted on lap 39 for fuel.

As Tander exited the pits, leader Courtney suffered a flat front right tyre as contact was made as he lapped Jason Richards, Courtney limping back to the pits to replace the tyre. Courtney eventually finished tenth despite a couple of further incidents later in the race, which he may yet be penalised for.

On lap 45 Lowndes made his stop for fuel, but there was more drama behind him. Tander, who seemed set to battle with Lowndes for victory, pulled into the pits before being pushed into the garage for suspension repairs, eventually finishing 23rd and last.

Winterbottom, who had assumed the lead as he stayed on track and others fell by the wayside, made his final stop on lap 50 and held onto the lead about a second ahead of Lowndes.

Lap 61 saw Whincup, who had caught Richards and had Holdsworth behind him, move into third after some contact on the exit of turn seven, Holdsworth following Whincup past Richards into fourth.

Just as it seemed that the places had been settled for the run to the flag, an incident brought out the safety car. Teammates Rick Kelly and Paul Dumbrell were battling for sixth position.

Into the hairpin Dumbrell finally took the place, but ran wide on the exit, allowing Kelly back to edge ahead around the outside. However, the two made contact as Dumbrell misjudged the gap into the following kink, ending Dumbrell's race with broken suspension and spinning Rick Kelly off the track, losing two places.

The race restarted on lap 71, the leaders nose-to-tail. A small error by Lowndes early on the next lap allowed teammate Whincup to capitalise and take second at the hairpin, and close in immediately on Winterbottom.

The two battled hard for the next few laps, before Whincup repeated his move at the hairpin on lap 76 to tkae the lead, making slight contact with Winterbottom on the way through, edging away to take the win.

Pos  Driver                Make     Time
 1.  Jamie Whincup         Ford     1:51:37.3538
 2.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford     +     1.8172
 3.  Craig Lowndes         Ford     +     2.4649
 4.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden   +     2.9405
 5.  Steven Richards       Ford     +     4.1324
 6.  Steven Johnson        Ford     +     7.4964
 7.  Will Davison          Ford     +    10.9751
 8.  Rick Kelly            Holden   +    17.3955
 9.  Mark Skaife           Holden   +    19.0464
10.  James Courtney        Ford     +    20.8691
11.  Greg Murphy           Holden   +    21.9736
12.  Fabian Coulthard      Ford     +    22.2405
13.  Shane van Gisbergen   Ford     +    22.6501
14.  Jason Richards        Holden   +    22.8604
15.  Russell Ingall        Holden   +    25.4784
16.  Todd Kelly            Holden   +    35.9216
17.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden   +     1 lap
18.  Andrew Jones          Holden   +     1 lap
19.  Marcus Marshall       Ford     +     2 laps
20.  Andrew Thompson       Holden   +     2 laps
21.  Shane Price           Holden   +     4 laps
22.  Kayne Scott           Ford     +     7 laps
23.  Garth Tander          Holden   +     9 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make     Laps
     Paul Dumbrell         Holden    67
     Cameron McConville    Holden    63
     Paul Morris           Holden    57
     Jason Bright          Ford      53
     Michael Caruso        Holden    29