Jamie Whincup made it two wins from two starts on Saturday at Symmons Plains by leading Race 5 of the championship from start to finish.
Cleared of wrongdoing in a Race 4 clash with team-mate Craig Lowndes just moments before the start, Whincup out-dragged fellow front-row man Mark Winterbottom to the first corner.
The FPR Falcon tracked the five-time champion for the race’s 42 lap duration, eventually taking the flag 0.5s adrift.
Fabian Coulthard, Scott McLaughlin and Craig Lowndes completed the top five.
Lowndes was the star of the race, charging through from the back of the grid after a technical infringement saw the #888 Holden scrubbed from the qualifying result.
He made it to fifth before a Safety Car was called with just a handful of laps to go, but could not find a way around McLaughlin’s Volvo in the dying stages.
Race 5 was action-packed from the opening lap, where Will Davison brought out the Safety Car by beaching his Mercedes in the Turn 4 gravel.
James Courtney and Robert Dahlgren also dropped to the back of the field in the hairpin melee; after which Courtney staged an impressive fightback to finish 11th.
Todd Kelly was 14th at the flag despite a drive-through penalty for a restart infringement, while Russell Ingall was 23rd after befalling a similar fate.
Rick Kelly’s beached Altima was the cause of the second Safety Car. The 2006 champion had been tagged into a spin at Turn 6 by Chaz Mostert, who was quickly penalised for his action.
Nick Percat was the only non-finisher, with the Walkinshaw Holden having sustained early damage while attempting to overtake Ingall.
A final qualifying session and 200km Race 6 will complete the weekend’s V8 Supercars action on Sunday.
See below for the full Race 5 result
1 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 42:46.34 |
2 | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG | 42 | 42:46.83 |
3 | Lockwood Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 42:48.58 |
4 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo S60 | 42 | 42:50.06 |
5 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 42:50.26 |
6 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 42:50.73 |
7 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 42:53.53 |
8 | Wilson Security Racing | Scott Pye | Ford Falcon FG | 42 | 42:53.73 |
9 | Team JELD-WEN | Jack Perkins | Ford Falcon FG | 42 | 42:54.49 |
10 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Lee Holdsworth | Mercedes E63 AMG | 42 | 42:54.74 |
11 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 42:55.17 |
12 | Team Tekno VIP Petfoods | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 42:56.16 |
13 | Norton Hornets | James Moffat | Nissan Altima | 42 | 42:56.81 |
14 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 42 | 42:57.26 |
15 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 42:57.70 |
16 | Norton Hornets | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 42 | 42:58.46 |
17 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG | 42 | 42:58.94 |
18 | Valvoline Racing GRM | Robert Dahlgren | Volvo S60 | 42 | 42:59.06 |
19 | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG | 42 | 43:18.16 |
20 | Wilson Security Racing | David Wall | Ford Falcon FG | 41 | 42:51.34 |
21 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Russell Ingall | Holden Commodore VF | 41 | 43:01.41 |
22 | Team Advam/GB | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 41 | 43:04.49 |
23 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Will Davison | Mercedes E63 AMG | 40 | 43:02.92 |
24 | Jack Daniel’s Racing | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 40 | 43:08.20 |
DNF | Heavy Haulage Australia | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 8 | 21:27.50 |
See below for the updated points standings
1 | Craig Lowndes | 382 |
2 | Fabian Coulthard | 336 |
3 | Jamie Whincup | 324 |
4 | Mark Winterbottom | 322 |
5 | James Courtney | 297 |
6 | Shane Van Gisbergen | 291 |
7 | Garth Tander | 249 |
8 | Scott McLaughlin | 232 |
9 | Tim Slade | 224 |
10 | Rick Kelly | 214 |
11 | Russell Ingall | 202 |
12 | James Moffat | 198 |
13 | Michael Caruso | 182 |
14 | Lee Holdsworth | 178 |
15 | David Wall | 177 |
16 | Jack Perkins | 176 |
17 | David Reynolds | 165 |
18 | Dale Wood | 155 |
19 | Jason Bright | 147 |
20 | Scott Pye | 145 |
21 | Will Davison | 138 |
22 | Chaz Mostert | 108 |
23 | Todd Kelly | 101 |
24 | Robert Dahlgren | 86 |
25 | Nick Percat | 51 |