Whincup wins as rivals clash at Albert Park

Jamie Whincup has won a crash-marred Race 3 of the Albert Park 400 on race day at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

A heavy incident involving Rick Kelly, Craig Lowndes, Steven Johnson, David Reynolds and Warren Luff on Lap 1 saw several laps run under Safety Car.

Whincup took the opportunity to pit and switch from the hard to the soft tyres during the yellow flag period.

The TeamVodafone driver then battled with Alex Davison’s IRWIN Falcon, taking the lead on Lap 14 as officials prepared the ‘bad sportsmanship flag’ for the defensive Davison.

Davison pitted for tyres three laps later, after his strategy of starting on the soft rubber was destroyed by the Safety Car.

The race was brought to an end seven laps short of its scheduled distance due to time constraints, with Whincup taking a comfortable 11 second victory.

Greg Murphy was second, ahead of Garth Tander, Shane van Gisbergen and Todd Kelly, while Davison was the last of the finishes in 20th.

The result saw the overall weekend fall to Whincup, with Tander and van Gisbergen filling the podium.

The spectacular opening lap incident occurred when Lowndes passed Rick Kelly down the inside at Turn 9. The TeamVodafone Commodore appeared to squeeze Kelly on the exit, resulting in Lowndes being turned into the outside wall.

The biggest damage occurred when Reynolds and Johnson arrived on the scene, with the Jim Beam Ford losing its right-rear wheel and right-side doors as it clipped the rear of Kelly’s Commodore and spun, while Reynolds making heavy contact with the inside wall.

Paul Dumbrell also crashed out of the race – The Bottle O driver being spun by Steve Owen on the exit of Turn 3 after the restart, resulting in contact with the concrete.

The highlight of the race was a titanic scrap for what was eventually third place. The battle involved up to 12 drivers, as Tander and van Gisbergen eventually made their way through the pack predominately made up of cars that had pitted as soon as the Safety Car was called.

Hero of the weekend, Jason Richards, had a disappointing Race 3, retiring just three laps in after an off at the first corner.

See below for the Race 3 result

Pos	No.	Driver	Car	Laps
1	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VE2	18
2	11	Greg Murphy	Holden Commodore VE2	18
3	2	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VE2	18
4	9	Shane van Gisbergen	Ford Falcon FG	18
5	7	Todd Kelly	Holden Commodore VE2	18
6	34	Michael Caruso	Holden Commodore VE2	18
7	47	Tim Slade	Ford Falcon FG	18
8	61	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore VE2	18
9	1	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VE2	18
10	8	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VE2	18
11	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG	18
12	39	Russell Ingall	Holden Commodore VE2	18
13	6	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG	18
14	33	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VE2	18
15	21	Karl Reindler	Holden Commodore VE2	18
16	12	Dean Fiore	Ford Falcon FG	18
17	3	Tony D’Alberto	Ford Falcon FG	18
18	18	James Moffat	Ford Falcon FG	18
19	49	Steve Owen	Holden Commodore VE2	18
20	4	Alex Davison	Ford Falcon FG	18
DNF	19	Jonathon Webb	Ford Falcon FG	15
DNF	55	Paul Dumbrell	Ford Falcon FG	6
DNF	14	Jason Richards	Holden Commodore VE2	3
DNF	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VE2
DNF	17	Steven Johnson	Ford Falcon FG
DNF	30	Warren Luff	Holden Commodore VE2
DNF	15	Rick Kelly	Holden Commodore VE2
DNF	16	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VE2

 Overall Points for the Albert Park V8 400

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Jamie Whincup	348
2	Garth Tander	320
3	Shane van Gisbergen	282
4	Alex Davison	254
5	Will Davison	234
6	Rick Kelly	228
7	Mark Winterbottom	222
8	Jason Richards	216
9	Jason Bright	214
10	Greg Murphy	212
11	Fabian Coulthard	204
12	Michael Caruso	184
13	Lee Holdsworth	180
14	Tim Slade	176
15	Craig Lowndes	176
16	Jonathon Webb	168
17	Russell Ingall	154
18	Todd Kelly	152
19	James Courtney	142
20	Karl Reindler	132
21	Dean Fiore	116
22	Tony D’Alberto	104
23	David Reynolds	104
24	Steve Owen	98
25	James Moffat	94
26	Paul Dumbrell	82
27	Steven Johnson	70
28	Warren Luff	64