» V8s: Whincup extends title lead with back-to-back wins

Jamie Whincup has extended his lead in the V8 Supercars championship standings after claiming back-to-back victories in the Falken Tasmania Challenge at Symmons Plains Raceway, securing the win from Ford Performance Racing team-mates Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom.

There was drama before the race began when Brad Jones Holden driver Jason Bright was taken to hospital with a rib injury after qualifying. His place was taken at short notice by Cameron McConville.

After Whincup had qualified third-quickest for today’s 200-kilometre race, the Team Vodafone Holden driver lost a place to Shane van Gisbergen (Stone Brothers Ford) off the line, quickly regaining the spot before the end of the first lap.

He quickly closed down the gap to pole-sitter Paul Dumbrell and his FPR stablemate Mark Winterbottom, who were engaged in an exciting battle for the lead.

Unable to find a way by the pair, Whincup peeled off into the pits on Lap 20, closely followed by Will Davison. In response to his pit stop, Dumbrell and Winterbottom pitted on the next lap, but the out-lap in clear was all Whincup needed to jump the pair. Dumbrell, meanwhile, committed a copycat error from Race 1 by again sliding off the track as he exited the pits, losing the place to Winterbottom in the process.

Davison’s out-lap was also enough to ensure he profited, and he managed to sneak in front of Winterbottom before his team-mate could get his tyres up to temperature, effectively moving from fifth to second in one fell swoop.

Davison was Whincup’s only real threat to victory, lapping right on Whincup’s pace but unable to get much closer than a second behind the series leader. In the end, Whincup had enough in hand to claim victory, Holden’s 400th championship win.

Davison and Winterbottom rounded out the podium ahead of Dumbrell in what was an excellent day for the FPR stable, while Whincup’s team-mate and major championship rival Craig Lowndes charged to finish fifth, after his mistake in qualifying saw him start from fifteenth.

Garth Tander completed the top-six places, ahead of van Gisbergen, Todd Kelly (Kelly Holden), Jonathon Webb (Tekno Ford) and Fabian Coulthard (Walkinshaw Holden).

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V8 Supercars Falken Tasmania Challenge Final Classification (Race 2 – 84 laps):

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Jamie Whincup	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Race Engineering	1:14:59.5652
2.	Will Davison	Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing	+ 1.7241
3.	Mark Winterbottom	Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing	+ 4.5920
4.	Paul Dumbrell	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash	+ 7 4175
5.	Craig Lowndes	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Race Engineering	+ 14.9014
6.	Garth Tander	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 17.7188
7.	Shane van Gisbergen	SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 25.1324
8.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 34.2495
9.	Jonathon Webb	Mother Energy Racing Team / Tekno	+ 35.9326
10.	Fabian Coulthard	Bundaberg / Walkinshaw Racing	+ 43.2272
11.	James Courtney	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 45.7391
12.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 46.1641
13.	Lee Holdsworth	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 46.1671
14.	Greg Murphy	Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing	+ 46.4310
15.	Michael Caruso	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 53.7891
16.	Tony D’Alberto	Wilson Security / Tony D’Alberto Racing	1 lap behind
17.	Russell Ingall	Supercheap Auto / Paul Morris Motorsport	1 lap behind
18.	James Moffat	Jim Beam / Dick Johnson Racing	1 lap behind
19.	Cameron McConville	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	1 lap behind
20.	Karl Reindler	Fair Dinkum Sheds / Brad Jones Racing	1 lap behind
21.	Steven Johnson	Jim Beam / Dick Johnson Racing	1 lap behind
22.	David Reynolds	Stratco Racing / Kelly Racing	1 lap behind
23.	Steve Owen	VIP Petfoods / Paul Morris Motorsport	1 lap behind
24.	Dean Fiore	Westrac Racing / Triple F Racing	1 lap behind
25.	Jason Bargwanna	Jana Living / Brad Jones Racing	1 lap behind
26.	Alex Davison	Irwin / Stone Brothers Racing	2 laps behind
27.	Tim Slade	Lucky 7 / Stone Brothers Racing	2 laps behind
28.	Warren Luff	Gulf Western Oil Racing / Lucas Dumbrell	5 laps behind