Whincup wins again in race three

Whincup led from start to finish apart from a period during the compulsory pitstops, his teammate Craig Lowndes in second the only driver who could stay with him as Whincup extended his championship lead.

As in the first two races, Jack Daniel's driver Todd Kelly was right on the pace, holding off Mark Winterbottom for most of the race after jumping ahead at the pitstops.

Fifth was a good recovery for Garth Tander after his race one dramas, finishing on the tail of Winterbottom but unable to take the place.

Jim Beam Racing again finished nose-to-tail, Will Davison just ahead of teammate Steven Johnson again, this time in sixth and seventh, with a long train of cars behind them, with Rick Kelly, Lee Holdsworth and James Courtney completing the top ten at the head of them.

Two wins for Whincup helped him secure the overall round win, ahead of race one winner Todd Kelly with Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes in third after two second places in the final two races.

With just the final round at Oran Park remaining, the battle for the title is down to two drivers. Winning two races and the round overall has allowed Jamie Whincup to extend his championship lead to 233 points over Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom, with 300 points to play for.

Reigning champion Garth Tander will not take back-to-back titles after his slimming hopes hit hard by his poor result in race one. By the end of race three the gap was too wide to overcome, Tander 420 points behind Whincup and 187 behind second-placed Winterbottom.

However, Tander's struggle and a strong weekend by Craig Lowndes in Tasmania has given Lowndes a slim chance of taking third in the championship, 589 points off the lead but 167 behind Tander.

Pos  Driver                Make     Time
 1.  Jamie Whincup         Ford     48:22.3812
 2.  Craig Lowndes         Ford     +   0.1038
 3.  Todd Kelly            Holden   +   1.0472
 4.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford     +   1.5493
 5.  Garth Tander          Holden   +   1.8419
 6.  Will Davison          Ford     +   4.3653
 7.  Steven Johnson        Ford     +   5.1011
 8.  Rick Kelly            Holden   +   5.6187
 9.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden   +   5.9920
10.  James Courtney        Ford     +   6.5077
11.  Fabian Coulthard      Ford     +   7.1810
12.  Jason Richards        Holden   +   7.8455
13.  Paul Morris           Holden   +   9.1930
14.  Greg Murphy           Holden   +   9.5720
15.  Mark Skaife           Holden   +   9.9095
16.  Russell Ingall        Holden   +  10.7492
17.  Steven Richards       Ford     +  10.9351
18.  Michael Caruso        Holden   +  12.0757
19.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden   +  15.4638
20.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden   +  15.8644
21.  Andrew Jones          Holden   +  17.2558
22.  Shane van Gisbergen   Ford     +   1 lap
23.  Andrew Thompson       Holden   +   1 lap
24.  Marcus Marshall       Ford     +   1 lap
25.  Daniel Gaunt          Ford     +   1 lap
26.  Jack Perkins          Holden   +   2 laps
27.  Michael Patrizi       Ford     +   3 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make     Laps
     Cameron McConville    Holden    36
     Jason Bright          Ford      35