Jamie Whincup shakes bogey to win Race 7

V8 Supercars powerhouse Jamie Whincup survived a last lap scare to win his first race of the season in the ITM 400 Auckland at Pukekohe Park.

Whincup had been holding off the advances of Mark Winterbottom who was launching a late race assault when both speared off over the back of the circuit.

Winterbottom made contact with Whincup when he lunged at the Commodore driver however stewards have not launched any investigation into the incident.

“I had seen Whincup make a few mistakes over that side of the track earlier and knew that was my real chance of grabbing the lead. We had better race pace toward the end and I had to give it a shot,” Winterbottom told Speedcafe.

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The Red Bull Racing driver managed to rejoin without any harm however Winterbottom fared less favourably and wound up 13th after challenging for the win in the closing corners.

Winterbottom’s Ford Performance Racing team-mate Will Davison finished second ahead of Holden Racing Team spearhead Garth Tander.

Polesitter Fabian Coulthard was in the mix for the majority of the race but had a 10s penalty added to his time and was classified in 10th place.

The safety car was deployed just passed the halfway mark of the 35-lap heat after an incident involving Shane van Gisbergen (VIP Petfoods Commodore), Jason Bright (BOC Commodore) and James Courtney (HRT Commodore) going into the first corner.

Courtney ended up buried in the sand trap with his race ending after 18 laps while van Gisbergen soldiered on to finish sixth with Bright fourth.

The seventh place finish of Rick Kelly was the best of the year for the debutant Nissan Altima with Norton 360 Nissan driver James Moffat also claiming a top 10 finish with a ninth place.

V8 SUPERCARS: Race 7 – Pukekohe 

Position	Driver	Team
1	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing Australia
2	Will Davison	Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford
3	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team
4	Jason Bright	Team BOC
5	David Reynolds	The Bottle-O FPR Ford
6	Shane van Gisbergen	TEKNO Team VIP
7	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing
8	Alexandre Premat	Fujitsu Racing GRM
9	James Moffat	Norton 360 Racing
10	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing
11	Jonathon Webb	Tekno Autosports
12	Michael Caruso	Norton 360 Racing
13	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford
14	Russell Ingall	Supercheap Auto Racing
15	Alex Davison	Jeld-wen FPR Ford
16	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing Australia
17	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing
18	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing
19	Dean Fiore	Dodo Insurance Racing
20	Tony D’Alberto	Team HIFLEX
21	Maro Engel	SP Tools Racing
22	Jonny Reid	Wilson Security Racing
23	Tim Blanchard	Wilson Security Racing
24	Scott McLaughlin	Fujitsu Racing GRM
25	Lee Holdsworth	IRWIN Racing
26	Tim Slade	Heavy Haulage Australia Racing
DNF	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team

V8 SUPERCARS: Points after Race 7  

Position	Driver	Points
1	Jamie Whincup	601
2	Will Davison	567
3	Craig Lowndes	489
4	Scott McLaughlin	457
5	James Courtney	440
6	Garth Tander	429
7	Fabian Coulthard	428
8	Shane van Gisbergen	427
9	Mark Winterbottom	414
10	Jason Bright	413
11	Jonathon Webb	407
12	Russell Ingall	352
13	Tony D’Alberto	319
14	Rick Kelly	309
15	James Moffat	277
16	Alex Davison	265
17	Alexandre Premat	263
18	Dean Fiore	261
19	Lee Holdsworth	252
20	David Wall	242
21	Tim Blanchard	239
22	Scott Pye	214
23	David Reynolds	209
24	Michael Caruso	209
25	Tim Slade	174
26	Maro Engel	116
27	Jonny Reid	109
28	Todd Kelly	90