Jamie Whincup has taken a dominant victory in Race 1 of the Albert Park 400 this evening.

The TeamVodafone driver started the race on soft tyres, and held a 13.7s lead over closest pursuer Alex Davison by the time the pit window opened on Lap 10.

Whincup pitted for the hard tyres and fuel on Lap 14, and emerged with a comfortable lead over Garth Tander, despite a major lock-up and minor off at Turn 1 on his out-lap.

Whincup  eventually greeted the chequered flag eight seconds in front of Tander after 25 laps – marking the two-time V8 Supercars Champion’s first race victory at Albert Park.

Shane van Gisbergen took third, while a hard-tyre shod Alex Davison held off Rick Kelly in the closing laps, in a battle that yielded Davison a bad sportsmanship flag for blocking.

Tander and van Gisbergen both ran the alternate tyre strategy to Whincup – starting on hards and finishing on softs.

Lee Holdsworth, Jason Richards, Mark Winterbottom, Jono Webb and Jason Bright rounded out the top 10.

Pole sitter Craig Lowndes was an early race casualty, suffering damage to his left-front corner after a collision with Shane van Gisbergen on Lap 3.

Lowndes joined James Moffat in the garage, after the Jim Beam Ford made heavy contact with the rear of Todd Kelly’s Jack Daniel’s entry at Turn 5.

Tim Slade battled with team-mate Davison for second before the pitstops, but finished just 23rd after a lengthy delay attaching his incoming right-front wheel.

James Courtney finished 16th, after falling out of the top 10 with an off at Turn 3 in the closing laps.

See below for the Race 1 result