Whincup wins Clipsal 500 race one

Whincup made a poor start, dropping back to fifth, but made back the places in the opening 20 laps of the race to retake the lead, a lead he only relinquished temporarily during mid-race pitstops as he went on to win by nearly fifteen seconds.

It would have been closer at the finish but for two late-race retirements. Garth Tander was the first to go, forced to pull in at the end of lap 68 in a cloud of smoke after a power steering problem.

With under five laps remaining it was Craig Lowndes turn to do the same, spinning twice on his own power steering fluid, having pressured his team-mate in the middle of the race before dropping back a few seconds.

Instead, it was Garry Rogers Motorsport's Lee Holdsworth and Tander's teammate Will Davison completing the podium, Davison recovering from a poor start where he dropped to 15th and a quick spin while following his teammate's smoking car.

After a disappointing qualifying effort, Steven Johnson had a steady race, making his way up the order to finish in fifth, just ahead of Jason Richards.

Shane van Gisbergen finished in sixth but may come under further scrutiny after making contact with Mark Winterbottom on lap 54, while Todd Kelly did well to finish seventh after starting 24th and a spin on lap 58 which cost him three places at the time.

Several other frontrunners had bad days. Mark Winterbottom finished 18th after the contact from van Gisbergen, having looked set for a top-five finish. Lowndes rejoined the track after repairs were made to his power steering to finish 19th.

James Courtney had an interesting day, running second in the early laps after a pass on Craig Lowndes which saw him glance the turn eight wall. He later made contact with and spun Paul Dumbrell following a concertina at turn four in the middle of the race.

Later, problems with his cool suit forced him to pit to have both front windows removed before he pulled his car into the garage as the heat took further toll on him. He eventually rejoined to be the last classified finisher in 20th.

Winterbottom's teammate Steven Richards retired after 65 laps, while the biggest crash of the day saw Michael Caruso's race end exiting turn three on lap 7 following possible contact from Greg Murphy, the damage to Caruso's car leaving it in doubt for Sunday's race.

Pos  Driver                Make     Time
 1.  Jamie Whincup         Ford     1:59:06.5279
 2.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden   +    14.0273
 3.  Will Davison          Holden   +    26.0760
 4.  Steven Johnson        Ford     +    28.9280
 5.  Jason Richards        Holden   +    30.5157
 6.  Shane van Gisbergen   Ford     +    35.9104
 7.  Todd Kelly            Holden   +    36.3012
 8.  Russell Ingall        Holden   +    41.4976
 9.  Cameron McConville    Holden   +    43.1578
10.  Rick Kelly            Holden   +    47.5619
11.  Fabian Coulthard      Ford     +    48.6741
12.  Jason Bright          Ford     +    52.9923
13.  David Reynolds        Holden   +  1:07.5699
14.  Dale Wood             Holden   +  1:14.6664
15.  Alex Davison          Ford     +     1 lap
16.  Dean Fiore            Holden   +     2 laps
17.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden   +     2 laps
18.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford     +     2 laps
19.  Craig Lowndes         Ford     +     3 laps
20.  James Courtney        Ford     +     8 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make     Laps
     Garth Tander          Holden    67
     Steven Richards       Ford      65
     Jason Bargwanna       Holden    65
     Marcus Marshall       Ford      54
     Tim Slade             Holden    48
     Greg Murphy           Holden    34
     Jack Perkins          Holden    27
     Michael Patrizi       Ford      12
     Michael Caruso        Holden     7