Whincup repeats with race 2 win

It was a relatively uneventful race for Whincup, who looked in control after taking the lead on lap 20. But for many of the other frontrunners it was an eventful day as they failed to finish or struck trouble along the way, the safety car making seven appearances throughout the race.

Avoiding the carnage were Valvoline Cummins driver Lee Holdsworth, who followed up a fourth place in race one with second place in race two. Just behind him was Team WOW's Cameron McConville who scored a podium in his first race for the team, in the team's first race for Holden.

Completing the top five were Todd Kelly in his first race for Jack Daniel's Racing, and rookie Shane van Gisbergen in his first race for the Stone Brothers Ford team.

Whincup's two wins capitalised on others' misfortune and he leads the championship on 300 points by 42 over Holdsworth, with Rick Kelly in third a further 66 points behind despite his late-race drama with his teammate in race one. 2007 champion Garth Tander finished last in both races, amassing 84 points to sit 19th in the standing.

At the start Winterbottom jumped ahead of Whincup, with Steven Richards, Will Davison and Lee Holdsworth behind him, Lowndes making a poor start from third to drop to eighth.

The first safety car came out on lap five for Russell Ingall's stranded car, the field having also lost another car as Will Davison's clutch left him with no drive. Garth Tander, who had retired while contending for the win on Saturday, was marching his way through the field, up to ninth by lap 11.

At the front of the field Whincup was pressuring Winterbottom, the lead finally changing hands on lap 20 just before Shane Price's Jack Daniels Holden brought out the safety car again after laying a trail of oil.

The race restarted on lap 23, Whincup still leading before the field began to make compulsory pit stops. Some drivers took both stops in quick succession, but most chose to make one stop and wait until later for their other stop.

Tander's charge up the order was looking good until he spun Steven Johnson at the hairpin on lap 30, with James Courtney, who had already rubbed doors with Greg Murphy earlier in the race, slicing inside a near-stationary Tander to try to avoid him, but it was unavoidable and they made side-to-side contact.

Two laps later and Tander was in the pits with a repeat of yesterday's suspension dramas. Whether the contact with Courtney contributed or caused it this time was unclear, and although Tander's car was repaired, there was more bad news to come as he was given a drive-through penalty for spinning Johnson.

Those drivers who had yet to make their second pit stop dived in when Steven Richards gently drove into the gravel at turn 11, bringing out the safety car. It was now a run to the flag as the race restarted on lap 45 of 78.

Whincup led the order ahead of Winterbottom, Lowndes, Courtney and Holdsworth. Before the restart lap was over, Lowndes dived inside Winterbottom at the hairpin but Winterbottom kept on squeezing him to the inside, despite blocking being against the rules, forcing Lowndes on to the dirty part of the track.

This caused Lowndes to run wide, forcing Winterbottom to do the same, allowing Courtney and Holdsworth to sneak through into second and third. Lap 49 saw the safety car out again after Andrew Thompson spun and hit the wall exiting the final hairpin.

Racing resumed on lap 52, and in a repeat of the previous restart, Lowndes dived inside at the hairpin later that lap, this time on Lee Holdsworth. Again he got squeezed on to the dirty inside, and again he ran wide. However, he was able to keep the place while Winterbottom snuck through on Holdsworth to take third.

Lowndes quickly moved up to the tail of James Courtney's car. Into the hairpin Lowndes began to look inside Courtney, who squeezed Lowndes towards the inside again. However, he wasn't alongside Courtney as he was on the previous two occasions.

As they negotiated the corner there appeared to be light contact from the front of Lowndes' car on the back of Courtney, similar to what had occurred in race one between Whincup and Winterbottom.

This allowed Lowndes to get alongside on the exit, the two side-by-side, Lowndes nosing ahead as they entered the kink at turn 10 before the 90 degree left at turn 11.

Neither driver was willing to concede, and though Lowndes gave what he thought was enough room to continue side-by-side, there was contact, both cars slamming hard into the outside wall before Lowndes car rebounded back to the inside and collected Mark Winterbottom's Ford.

In one incident, the second, third and fourth-placed Fords were all out of the race. This saw a big change in the top five, Whincup still leading, but now he had three Holdens behind him in Cameron McConville, Lee Holdsworth, Todd Kelly and Fabian Coulthard, with McConville, Kelly and Coulthard in their first round with that team.

Back to racing on lap 60, the racing settling down for a few laps but not without controversy as Steven Johnson, who had been earlier spun by Tander and was recovering, was given a drive-through penalty for overlapping at the restart.

The car he was overlapping was Fabian Coulthard, who had been dropping glass on the track for several laps prior to the safety car with a broken rear windscreen. Then, as it went back to green, his brakes began to lock on, his car gradually slowing down as the brakes eventually locked fully on on the laps after the restart.

Although Johnson did not pass him before the control line, any overlap is not allowed. However, the stewards appeared to ignore Coulthard's slowing car and Johnson dropped from fifth to eleventh, while rookie Shane van Gisbergen moved into the top five.

Lap 70 saw a change for second as McConville made a mistake, allowing Holdsworth to take the place just as the safety car came out again for a tyre carcass on the circuit which had come off Tony D'Alberto's Holden.

Back to green flag racing on lap 72 but the safety car was back out again on lap 75 after Paul Dumbrell had a failure in the left front, slamming him hard into the turn eight wall.

The final restart took place on lap 77, the field managing to make it through the final two laps without a further safety car intervention, Whincup completing his perfect weekend with a win, Lee Holdsworth and Cameron McConville completing the podium.

Pos  Driver                Make     Time
 1.  Jamie Whincup         Ford     2:11:45.5992
 2.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden   +     0.7836
 3.  Cameron McConville    Holden   +     1.6613
 4.  Todd Kelly            Holden   +     2.1788
 5.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford     +     2.7682
 6.  Rick Kelly            Holden   +     3.4376
 7.  Greg Murphy           Holden   +     3.9301
 8.  Jason Richards        Holden   +     6.0323
 9.  Steven Johnson        Ford     +     7.6688
10.  Jason Bright          Ford     +     9.0286
11.  Michael Caruso        Holden   +     9.2688
12.  Andrew Jones          Holden   +    13.5918
13.  Marcus Marshall       Ford     +    14.1271
14.  Kayne Scott           Ford     +    14.7809
15.  Steven Richards       Ford     +     1 lap
16.  Paul Morris           Holden   +     2 laps
17.  Mark Skaife           Holden   +     5 laps
18.  Fabian Coulthard      Ford     +     9 laps
19.  Garth Tander          Holden   +    11 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make     Laps
     Tony D'Alberto        Holden    71
     Paul Dumbrell         Holden    66
     James Courtney        Ford      55
     Craig Lowndes         Ford      55
     Mark Winterbottom     Ford      55
     Andrew Thompson       Holden    46
     Shane Price           Holden    18
     Will Davison          Ford       5
     Russell Ingall        Holden     2