Whincup takes close win in race two

He took the win despite losing the lead to Garth Tander at the start, Tander getting the jump and immediately moving over in front of Whincup to defend his line, Whincup then going deep into turn one, the two cars making contact, Tander taking a shortcut across the chicane but was in front at the time he did so.

Tander quickly opened a gap over Whincup and the rest of the field, pitting on lap seven. A small delay in his pitstop cost him a few tenths, resuming just behind Tony D'Alberto, Tander passing D'Alberto three-quarters of a lap later.

Whincup pitted a lap after Tander, and with Tander's slightly slower stop and time spent behind D'Alberto, Whincup emerged with a couple of seconds advantage over Tander, almost as big a gap as Tander had had over Whincup before the stop.

A safety car followed almost immediately after for an incident involving Fabian Coulthard and Jason Richards, which saw drama as D'Alberto got stuck at the hairpin behind Coulthard under safety car conditions.

This saw cars come to a halt as they got stuck behind D'Alberto's stationary car, some drivers cutting across the grass but in the process effectively passing cars while under yellow. Whether any or all of those positions were given back is unclear, with penalties possibly yet to come.

After the restart it was virtually a repeat of yesterday, the top three pulling away, trading times, Whincup holding on just ahead of Tander, with Winterbottom close but not quite close enough.

Lee Holdsworth, Steven Johnson and Rick Kelly were big gainers out of the safety car period, pitting just at the right time as events took place elsewhere on the track, and finished fourth, fifth and sixth after starting tenth, fifteenth and 29th.

Todd Kelly, Russell Ingall, Craig Lowndes and Will Davison completed the top ten finishers, Ingall running fourth in the early laps before the safety car shook up the order.

Pos  Driver                Make     Time
 1.  Jamie Whincup         Ford     56:26.3034
 2.  Garth Tander          Holden   +   0.4308
 3.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford     +   3.8369
 4.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden   +   7.5627
 5.  Steven Johnson        Ford     +  12.6733
 6.  Rick Kelly            Holden   +  16.4348
 7.  Todd Kelly            Holden   +  17.1310
 8.  Russell Ingall        Holden   +  17.4262
 9.  Craig Lowndes         Ford     +  19.7327
10.  Will Davison          Ford     +  23.0900
11.  James Courtney        Ford     +  23.8427
12.  Steven Richards       Ford     +  24.4754
13.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford     +  33.7899
14.  Greg Murphy           Holden   +  35.2509
15.  Jack Perkins          Holden   +  38.0586
16.  Mark Skaife           Holden   +  38.3345
17.  Jason Richards        Holden   +  38.9019
18.  Michael Caruso        Holden   +  44.3718
19.  Paul Morris           Holden   +  46.5663
20.  Andrew Thompson       Holden   +  47.0862
21.  Steve Owen            Ford     +  51.5904
22.  Cameron McConville    Holden   +  55.5296
23.  Marcus Marshall       Ford     +   1 lap
24.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden   +   3 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make     Laps
     Paul Dumbrell         Holden    24
     Andrew Jones          Holden    22
     Michael Patrizi       Ford      12
     Fabian Coulthard      Ford       7
     Jason Bright          Ford       3