Whincup bounces back to form in Darwin

TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup has struck back in the V8 Supercars Championship Series, winning Race 14 of the Skycity Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway.

The dual V8 Series Champion used his Dunlop Sprint tyres at the start of the Safety Car-free race to build enough of a gap on yesterday’s race winner Mark Winterbottom, who used his Sprint tyres at the end of the race but failed to reel him in.

Whincup’s win in his brand-new Commodore VE narrowed the gap to title leader James Courtney to 57 points.

Winterbottom, in his Orrcon Steel Ford Performance Racing Falcon, finished ahead of Shane van Gisbergen’s SP Tools Racing Falcon FG, meaning the same three drivers finished on the podium in both races in Darwin.

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Fourth place went to championship leader Courtney (Jim Beam Racing) ahead of Craig Lowndes (TeamVodafone) who finished the race on the Sprint tyres.

Wilson Security Racing’s Tim Slade continued his impressive run, finishing sixth and equalling his career best performance from yesterday. Slade charged through the field at the end using the Sprint tyre.

Jason Richards (Team BOC), Todd Kelly (Jack Daniel’s Racing), Rick Kelly (Jack Daniel’s Racing), and Steven Richards (Dunlop Super Dealers FPR) rounded out the top 10.

Toll Holden Racing Team’s new car debut didn’t go as well as its TeamVodafone rivals, with Will Davison finishing 11^th and Garth Tander down in 19^th place.

Pole-sitter Alex Davison led the opening stanza of the race on the Sprint tyres but was ruled out of the race when an electrical fault ruined a podium chance.

The next round of the V8 Supercars Championship Series is in three weeks time at the Sucrogen Townsville 400.

1	1	Jamie Whincup	69
2	5	Mark Winterbottom	69
3	9	Shane Van Gisbergen	69
4	18	James Courtney	69
5	888	Craig Lowndes	69
6	47	Tim Slade	69
7	8	Jason Richards	69
8	7	Todd Kelly	69
9	15	Rick Kelly	69
10	6	Steven Richards	69
11	22	Will Davison	69
12	33	Lee Holdsworth	69
13	19	Jonathon Webb	69
14	24	Fabian Coulthard	69
15	34	Michael Caruso	69
16	17	Steven Johnson	69
17	3	Tony D’Alberto	69
18	51	Greg Murphy	69
19	2	Garth Tander	69
20	14	Jason Bright	69
21	11	Jason Bargwanna	69
22	12	Dean Fiore	69
23	55	Paul Dumbrell	68
24	10	Andrew Thompson	68
25	39	Russell Ingall	68
26	21	Karl Reindler	68
27	16	Tony Ricciardello	68
28	30	Daniel Gaunt	67
DNF	4	Alex Davison	47