» V8s: Whincup claims Race 1 win at Symmons Plains

V8 Supercars championship leader Jamie Whincup has claimed another win this season, heading home a Holden 1-2-3 at Symmons Plains Raceway to extend his championship lead over Team Vodafone Holden team-mate Craig Lowndes, who finished second.

Having claimed pole position in the day’s earlier qualifying session, Whincup was beaten off the line at the start of today’s 50-lap race by Ford Performance Racing driver Mark Winterbottom.

‘Frosty’ managed fend off Whincup’s advances for the opening ten laps of the race, but eventually succumbed on the eleventh lap.

Whincup remained in control of the race from that point, rebuilding his lead after the green flag conditions were interrupted by a Safety Car, brought upon when Greg Murphy’s (Kelly Racing) Holden shed a wheel.

Winterbottom’s team-mate Will Davison managed to get into second place by electing to only change two tyres during the race’s compulsory pit stop, but running on differently-worn tyres in the second half of the race didn’t pay off, and he dropped behind Lowndes after a long battle.

He then set about trying to keep team-mate Winterbottom at bay for third, but the pair was engrossed in their battle that when Winterbottom eventually did slip by with three laps to go, the pair allowed HRT’s Garth Tander to pounce and make it an all-Holden podium.

Winterbottom, Davison, and Stone Brothers Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen harried Tander to the chequered flag.

Van Gisbergen and fellow second-row starter Paul Dumbrell (Rod Nash / Ford Performance Racing) were two runners whose qualifying pace couldn’t translate into similar results during the race. Dumbrell’s fall down the field to 13th came courtesy of a brake issue, as well as a slip-up after he pit stop when he ran wide at the pit exit, while van Gisbergen lost places when he ran wide on Lap 32.

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V8 Supercars Falken Tasmania Challenge Final Classification (Race 1 – 50 laps):

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Jamie Whincup	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Race Engineering	45:48.4135
2.	Craig Lowndes	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Race Engineering	+ 8.7403
3.	Garth Tander	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 11.9541
4.	Mark Winterbottom	Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing	+ 12.1587
5.	Will Davison	Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing	+ 12.7166
6.	Alex Davison	Irwin / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 14.3906
7.	Shane van Gisbergen	SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 18.2865
8.	Fabian Coulthard	Bundaberg / Walkinshaw Racing	+ 19.6504
9.	Michael Caruso	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 20.9548
10.	James Courtney	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 21.1549
11.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 21.2956
12.	Tim Slade	Lucky 7 / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 21.8249
13.	Paul Dumbrell	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash	+ 24.2846
14.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 24.6304
15.	Tony D’Alberto	Wilson Security / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 26.9067
16.	Lee Holdsworth	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 26.9895
17.	Steve Owen	VIP Petfoods / Paul Morris Motorsport	+ 28.3855
18.	Jason Bargwanna	Jana Living / Brad Jones Racing	+ 30.6602
19.	Dean Fiore	Westrac Racing / Triple F Racing	+ 31.8740
20.	James Moffat	Jim Beam / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 32.3395
21.	Jonathon Webb	Mother Energy Racing Team / Tekno	+ 35.8909
22.	David Reynolds	Stratco Racing / Kelly Racing	+ 36.1086
23.	Steven Johnson	Jim Beam / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 37.8933
24.	Karl Reindler	Fair Dinkum Sheds / Brad Jones Racing	+ 38.3386
25.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 42.6108
26.	Warren Luff	Gulf Western Oil Racing / Lucas Dumbrell	6 laps behind

	NOT CLASSIFIED
DNF.	Russell Ingall	Supercheap Auto / Paul Morris Motorsport	24 laps
DNF.	Greg Murphy	Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing	22 laps