Whincup wins race three

Whincup recovered from a poor start, and then being passed after a restart to take the win, with James Courtney making good use of his tyres to come home in second just ahead of Craig Lowndes whose third podium of the weekend secured the first-ever 1-2 overall result for Team Vodafone.

Mark Winterbottom consolidated his race two result with fourth place just behind Lowndes, as a fading Russell Ingall finished fifth after drifting down the order from second towards the end of the race, but still good enough for third overall for the round.

However, Tander's disappointing weekend got even worse, finishing a lap down in 23rd place after contact early in the race.

At the start of the race Whincup lost out to Ingall and Winterbottom through turn one, but passed Winterbottom back before lap one was over, and then took the lead from Ingall as they started lap three.

Behind them Lowndes had dropped to fifth but retook fourth on lap three from Steven Richards just before the safety car came out for a car stranded at turn one.

The stranded car was there as a result of an incident at turn one on lap two, when Steven Johnson spun Todd Kelly. Johnson's teammate Will Davison saw the contact coming and tried to avoid both cars but ended up making contact with his teammate.

Behind them, cars took avoiding action, almost everyone escaping unscathed. However, Mark Skaife was in the middle of a fight for position as he realised what was unfolding ahead of him.

He tried to take avoiding action but unfortunately still made contact with another car. Even worse, it was his teammate Garth Tander who he hit on the right rear wheel, damaging Tander's suspension and giving him a flat tyre, while Skaife's car was out with broken steering.

At the restart on lap 6 Ingall stayed with Whincup, taking the lead with a dive at turn one. A lap later, Whincup repaid the favour from even further back. Compulsory pitstops followed soon after, with Courtney staying out until lap 19, resuming just behind Winterbottom who had lost a place to Lowndes four laps earlier.

A safety car two laps later for the stranded car of Todd Kelly bunched the field up, and the restart on lap 24 was a platform for Courtney to launch his attack.

He took Winterbottom for fourth at turn one on lap 24, and a lap later gained another place as he followed Lowndes past Ingall at turn one, taking Lowndes for second place on the next lap at turn two.

Winterbottom was next to move up, taking Ingall at turn one on lap 27 only for Ingall to immediately take it back, before making the move stick a lap later.

Whincup cruised to the win while Courtney, Lowndes and Winterbottom fought over second to fourth place, but the order remained the same despite the best efforts of each driver.

With two rounds remaining, there are only four drivers who can still win the title, and of those, Craig Lowndes is 549 points back with only 600 remaining. Whincup's 'perfect' weekend saw him extend his lead from 75 to 187 points over second-placed Winterbottom, and from 106 to 292 points (almost a full round) over 2007 champion Garth Tander.

Pos  Driver                Make     Time
 1.  Jamie Whincup         Ford     51:07.5065
 2.  James Courtney        Ford     +   6.0450
 3.  Craig Lowndes         Ford     +   6.5161
 4.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford     +   7.4834
 5.  Russell Ingall        Holden   +   9.8925
 6.  Will Davison          Ford     +  11.0629
 7.  Fabian Coulthard      Ford     +  11.9367
 8.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden   +  12.6414
 9.  Steven Richards       Ford     +  14.8722
10.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford     +  15.7522
11.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden   +  16.3094
12.  Paul Morris           Holden   +  18.0809
13.  Steven Johnson        Ford     +  21.8951
14.  Jason Bright          Ford     +  22.4258
15.  Marcus Marshall       Ford     +  23.2351
16.  Andrew Jones          Holden   +  23.7336
17.  Michael Caruso        Holden   +  24.2237
18.  Greg Murphy           Holden   +  25.0301
19.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden   +  25.6667
20.  Rick Kelly            Holden   +  26.0007
21.  Cameron McConville    Holden   +  30.0685
22.  Michael Patrizi       Ford     +  39.8787
23.  Garth Tander          Holden   +   1 lap
24.  Fahad Al Musalam      Ford     +   1 lap

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make     Laps
     Andrew Thompson       Holden    28
     Todd Kelly            Holden    19
     Jack Perkins          Holden    13
     Mark Skaife           Holden     1