Whincup back on top in Austin 400 finale

Jamie Whincup finished off a strong weekend for Red Bull Racing Australia in Austin, Texas, by returning to the top of the podium in the fourth and final 100km sprint.

Having finished third in Race 15 earlier in the afternoon, Whincup led away from pole in Race 16 and was unstoppable for the duration.

Race 15 winner Fabian Coulthard shadowed Whincup for much of the journey but could not find a way around his rival during the critical lap after the Red Bull Holden’s pitstop.

Almost three seconds separated the pair at the finish, with third placed Shane van Gisbergen a further 8.4s adrift.

THE FINAL RACE OF THE 2023 REPCO SUPERCARS CHAMPIONSHIP ON ONE OF THE WORLD’S BEST STREET CIRCUITS.
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Garth Tander, Craig Lowndes, Mark Winterbottom, Jason Bright, Rick Kelly, Jonathon Webb and James Courtney completed the top 10.

Starting from just 12th after a difficult qualifying session, Lowndes gained much of his ground in the pitstop cycle.

Bright repeated his Saturday strategy of running longer than many of his rivals. The Team BOC Holden had taken on four new tyres and rejoined in a net 10th with seven laps to go before getting the better of Webb and Kelly in the closing stages.

The race was punctuated by an early Safety Car following contact between Will Davison and Scott McLaughlin at Turn 12.

The FPR Falcon driver had lost control while attempting to pass Lowndes, subsequently clobbering McLaughlin at the apex.

The Austin 400 was run in front of a claimed 68,000 strong weekend crowd; over double that achieved for the recently two-day Grand-Am sportscar event at the Circuit of the Americas.

Whincup has now extended his championship lead over team-mate Lowndes to 142 points after 16 races.

See below for the full Race 16 result

1	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	27	47:20.7325
2	Lockwood Racing	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore VF	27	47:23.4986
3	TEKNO Team VIP	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	27	47:29.0933
4	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	27	47:31.3250
5	Red Bull Racing Australia	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	27	47:32.1168
6	Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG	27	47:33.6853
7	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	27	47:35.5078
8	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	27	47:35.6639
9	Tekno Autosports	Jonathon Webb	Holden Commodore VF	27	47:38.0389
10	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	27	47:39.8014
11	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Alexandre Premat	Holden Commodore VF	27	47:41.6173
12	Wilson Security Racing	David Wall	Holden Commodore VF	27	47:41.8834
13	The Bottle-O FPR Ford	David Reynolds	Ford Falcon FG	27	47:43.5561
14	Norton 360 Racing	James Moffat	Nissan Altima	27	47:46.3831
15	Wilson Security Racing	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG	27	47:47.1489
16	ekol Racing	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	27	47:49.6995
17	Heavy Haulage Australia	Tim Slade	Mercedes E63 AMG	27	47:50.6353
18	Dodo Insurance Racing	Dean Fiore	Holden Commodore VF	27	47:52.7214
19	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	27	47:52.9796
20	Irwin Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Mercedes E63 AMG	27	47:54.2719
21	Team HIFLEX	Tony D’Alberto	Holden Commodore VF	27	47:57.0812
22	Supercheap Auto Racing	Russell Ingall	Holden Commodore VF	27	48:00.0132
23	Wilson Security Racing	Tim Blanchard	Ford Falcon FG	27	48:06.0289
24	Norton 360 Racing	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	27	48:25.7264
25	SP Tools Racing	Maro Engel	Mercedes E63 AMG	27	48:36.2602
26	Jeld-wen FPR Ford	Alex Davison	Ford Falcon FG	27	48:55.4836
27	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Holden Commodore VF	22	49:00.9419
DNF	Pepsi Max Crew FPR Ford	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG	3	4:53.0663

See below for the updated points standings

1	Jamie Whincup	1247
2	Craig Lowndes	1105
3	Will Davison	1029
4	Fabian Coulthard	984
5	Jason Bright	945
6	Shane Van Gisbergen	907
7	Garth Tander	888
8	Mark Winterbottom	861
9	James Courtney	825
10	Jonathon Webb	768
11	Scott McLaughlin	695
12	Rick Kelly	651
13	James Moffat	638
14	David Reynolds	619
15	Alex Davison	619
16	Alexandre Premat	558
17	Russell Ingall	527
18	Tony D’Alberto	502
19	Dean Fiore	497
20	Lee Holdsworth	451
21	David Wall	435
22	Michael Caruso	434
23	Tim Blanchard	398
24	Tim Slade	391
25	Scott Pye	366
26	Todd Kelly	328
27	Chaz Mostert	252
28	Maro Engel	246