» V8s Symmons Plains: Lowndes wins opening race

Craig Lowndes improved his prospects for another V8 Supercars title by winning the opening race of the V8 Supercars round at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains circuit today.

The Team Vodafone driver beat pole-sitter Garth Tander off the line to take the lead, and was never placed under any serious threat for the rest of the 50-lap race. Tander tried valiantly to cling to Lowndes’ coat-tails, but proved unable to mount any serious challenge.

Greg Murphy – who has endured a rubbish 2010 season – backed up his surprisingly good performance in qualifying by completing the podium, finishing a few seconds ahead of Paul Dumbrell who had climbed up from his tenth-placed starting position.

Fifth-placed Mark Winterbottom had put himself in contention to take a podium finish himself, but slid off the track on his out-lap following his compulsory pit stop, which dropped him a couple of places.

He was chased to the line by championship contender Jamie Whincup – who had himself improved five places from his starting position – and Russell Ingall.

Eighth-placed Steven Richards held off a seven-car train (covered by just six seconds at the end of the race) that included Michael Caruso, Lee Holdsworth and championship leader James Courtney.

Courtney’s generally anonymous showing in the race sees his championship lead over Whincup shrink to just 41 points, while Lowndes’ win closed the gap by 78 points to a 188-point deficit. Fourth-placed Winterbottom lies 281 points behind Courtney.

Race 1 Final Classification (50 laps):

	Driver	Team	Result
1.	Craig Lowndes	Team Vodafone	44:18.2888
2.	Garth Tander	TOLL Holden Racing Team	+ 4.1579
3.	Greg Murphy	Castrol Edge Racing	+ 7.9877
4.	Paul Dumbrell	The Bottle-O Racing Team	+ 10.2710
5.	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Performance Racing	+ 11.6385
6.	Jamie Whincup	Team Vodafone	+ 12.4524
7.	Russell Ingall	Supercheap Auto Racing	+ 12.6346
8.	Steven Richards	Ford Performance Racing	+ 18.9877
9.	Michael Caruso	Fujitsu Racing / GRM	+ 19.8738
10.	Lee Holdsworth	Fujitsu Racing / GRM	+ 20.0846
11.	James Courtney	Jim Beam Racing	+ 20.5076
12.	Jason Bright	Trading Post Racing	+ 22.1773
13.	Shane van Gisbergen	SP Tools Racing	+ 22.6689
14.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing	+ 23.1384
15.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing	+ 24.6882
16.	Jason Richards	Team BOC	+ 27.3549
17.	Steven Johnson	Jim Beam Racing	+ 31.4606
18.	Jonathon Webb	Dick Johnson Racing	+ 32.4954
19.	Tim Slade	Wilson Security Racing	+ 32.9001
20.	Alex Davison	IRWIN Racing	+ 36.9833
21.	Tony D’Alberto	Centaur Racing	+ 41.1846
22.	Will Davison	TOLL Holden Racing Team	+ 43.5759
23.	Dean Fiore	Triple F Racing	+ 49.4893
24.	Andrew Thompson	Bundaberg Red Racing	+ 49.9732
25.	Warren Luff	Gulf Western Oil Racing	+ 1 lap
26.	Tony Ricciardello	Stratco Racing	+ 1 lap
27.	Fabian Coulthard	Bundaberg Red Racing	+ 1 lap
	*Not Classified*
	Karl Reindler	Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing	36 laps
	Jason Bargwanna	ROCK Racing	1 lap