Whincup/Dumbrell lead Red Bull one-two at Sandown

Jamie Whincup fought back from a mid-race disaster to beat team-mate Craig Lowndes to victory in the Sandown 500.

Whincup’s chances had appeared dashed prior to the halfway mark, with a late decision to drag co-driver Paul Dumbrell out of the car at the third pitstop resulting in it being left in second gear.

The resultant spinning of the rear wheels earned a drive-through penalty that mired Whincup down in 25th.

Whincup was able to claw his way back into contention despite an absence of Safety Cars in the second half of the race.

Whincup eventually took the lead from Lowndes with little over 10 laps remaining as the #888 entry began to struggle on fading tyres.

Lowndes cruised home second ahead of Will Davison, whose Ford Performance Racing Falcon made the finish despite a gearbox oil leak.

Davison’s race had looked all but over after his car’s first pitstop, where it had fallen to the back while stacking behind the sister entry of Mark Winterbottom/Steven Richards.

Richards had pitted on the opening lap after stalling on the grid; putting him out-of-sync with the Davison car.

Winterbottom later led Lowndes and Whincup into the penultimate stint, but a slow wheel change subsequently put paid to their chances of anything better than a sixth place finish.

The Lee Holdsworth/Craig Baird Mercedes took Erebus Motorsport’s best result yet in fourth, shadowing Davison to the flag.

Fifth for James Courtney and Greg Murphy was a positive result for the Holden Racing Team after a string of early disasters.

Murphy had received two black flags for loose rear bodywork during his opening stints; the same fate that had befallen the team’s Garth Tander/Nick Percat entry in the opening laps.

Tander eventually took the flag in 22nd after a torrid day that included a long pitstop to fix steering damage that had been sustained in a clash with David Wall.

Others in trouble included Tony D’Alberto/Jonny Reid (sticking throttle), Jason Bright/Andrew Jones (steering), Maro Engel/Steven Johnson (brakes), James Moffat/Taz Douglas (suspension), Scott Pye/Paul Morris (steering) and Tim Blanchard/Ashley Walsh (accident).

Walsh triggered the second Safety Car of the day on Lap 35 when he made heavy contact with the tyre barrier at the high-speed Turn 6 after leaving the road while pressuring Baird.

The first full-course yellow had been called on Lap 19 to address a dislodged apex cone at Turn 6, while the final Safety Car on Lap 66 was again for debris, this time at Turn 6.

Whincup now leads the standings by an extended 96 point margin over Lowndes, who has jumped ahead of both Davison and Winterbottom with today’s result.

See below for the full race result

1	J.Whincup/P.Dumbrell	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:22:54.62
2	C.Lowndes/W.Luff	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:02.81
3	W.Davison/S.Owen	Ford Falcon FG	161	03:23:12.56
4	L.Holdsworth/C.Baird	Mercedes E63 AMG	161	03:23:13.53
5	J.Courtney/G.Murphy	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:20.77
6	M.Winterbottom/S.Richards	Ford Falcon FG	161	03:23:21.14
7	F.Coulthard/L.Youlden	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:25.87
8	S.McLaughlin/J.Perkins	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:27.93
9	R.Ingall/R.Briscoe	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:33.15
10	A.Premat/G.Ritter	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:44.50
11	T.Kelly/D.Russell	Nissan Altima	161	03:23:46.43
12	S.Van Gisbergen/J.Bleekemolen	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:54.26
13	J.Webb/M.Lieb	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:55.18
14	C.Mostert/D.Wood	Ford Falcon FG	161	03:24:04.30
15	A.Davison/J.McIntyre	Ford Falcon FG	160	03:22:56.45
16	R.Kelly/K.Reindler	Nissan Altima	160	03:23:03.85
17	D.Reynolds/D.Canto	Ford Falcon FG	160	03:23:03.97
18	D.Fiore/M.Halliday	Holden Commodore VF	160	03:23:06.06
19	D.Wall/C.Pither	Holden Commodore VF	160	03:23:07.02
20	M.Caruso/D.Gaunt	Nissan Altima	160	03:23:10.18
21	T.Slade/A.Thompson	Mercedes E63 AMG	159	03:23:17.33
22	G.Tander/N.Percat	Holden Commodore VF	152	03:23:33.77
23	T.D’Alberto/J.Reid	Holden Commodore VF	152	03:23:58.16
24	J.Bright/A.Jones	Holden Commodore VF	147	03:23:19.98
25	M.Engel/S.Johnson	Mercedes E63 AMG	143	03:23:37.57
26	J.Moffat/T.Douglas	Nissan Altima	123	03:23:17.08
DNF	S.Pye/P.Morris	Holden Commodore VF	135	02:56:03.57
DNF	Ashley Walsh	Ford Falcon FG	33	42:25.70

See below for the updated points standings 

1	Jamie Whincup	2147
2	Craig Lowndes	2051
3	Will Davison	2050
4	Mark Winterbottom	1981
5	James Courtney	1909
6	Fabian Coulthard	1901
7	Shane Van Gisbergen	1770
8	Jason Bright	1715
9	Garth Tander	1680
10	Scott McLaughlin	1498
11	Jonathon Webb	1389
12	David Reynolds	1330
13	Rick Kelly	1215
14	James Moffat	1209
15	Alex Davison	1200
16	Tony D’Alberto	1087
17	Alexandre Premat	1055
18	Chaz Mostert	1018
19	Russell Ingall	100
20	Dean Fiore	922
21	Tim Slade	905
22	Michael Caruso	899
23	David Wall	881
24	Lee Holdsworth	875
25	Todd Kelly	833
26	Tim Blanchard	703
27	Scott Pye	649
28	Maro Engel	636
29	Paul Dumbrell	300
30	Warren Luff	276
31	Steve Owen	258
32	Craig Baird	240
33	Greg Murphy	222
34	Jonny Reid	221
35	Steven Richards	204
36	Luke Youlden	192
37	Jack Perkins	180
38	Ryan Briscoe	168
39	Greg Ritter	156
40	David Russell	144
41	Jeroen Bleekemolen	138
42	Marc Lieb	132
43	Dale Wood	126
44	John McIntyre	120
45	Karl Reindler	114
46	Dean Canto	108
47	Matthew Halliday	102
48	Chris Pither	96
49	Daniel Gaunt	90
50	Andrew Thompson	84
51	Nick Percat	78
52	Andrew Jones	66
53	Steven Johnson	60
54	Taz Douglas	54
55	Paul Morris	0
56	Ashley Walsh	0