» V8s: Lowndes opens win account at Darwin

Craig Lowndes has finally kickstarted his account of wins for the 2012 V8 Supercars championship season, with the TeamVodafone Holden driver narrowly holding out team-mate and defending champion Jamie Whincup in today’s closing race of the SkyCity Triple Crown at Darwin’s Hidden Valley Raceway.

Today’s 200-kilometre, 69-lap race was again run in baking conditions, and teams’ strategy options were left wide open when the race was interrupted by an early safety car period.

In the end, the honours for the race came down to a three-way stoush between Lowndes, Whincup and Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom. Third-placed Lowndes got by Winterbottom, and then overtook team-mate Whincup with just three laps to go.

Having made his tyre change earlier than his Holden rivals, Winterbottom faded away from the lead battle and just managed to hang on to finish on the final podium spot, denying GRM Holden driver Michael Caruso his first top-three result of the season after an impressive display.

Fabian Coulthard finished in fifth place, while outgoing points’ leader Will Davison finished sixth, losing time after queuing behind team-mate Winterbottom when the pair pitted on the same lap when the safety car had been deployed.

2012 V8 Supercars SkyCity Triple Crown Darwin – Race 1 Result (69 laps):

	Driver	Entry / Team	Laps	Result
1.	Craig Lowndes	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	69	1:29:04.4833
2.	Jamie Whincup	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	69	+ 0.9377
3.	Mark Winterbottom	Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing	69	+ 16.2887
4.	Michael Caruso	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	69	+ 16.7152
5.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	69	+ 21.6881
6.	Will Davison	Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing	69	+ 27.9640
7.	Shane van Gisbergen	SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing	69	+ 31.3922
8.	David Reynolds	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash	69	+ 36.1837
9.	Garth Tander	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	69	+ 47.8074
10.	Tim Slade	Lucky 7 Racing / Stone Brothers Racing	69	+ 52.2200
11.	James Courtney	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	69	+ 54.2307
12.	Lee Holdsworth	Irwin Racing / Stone Brothers Racing	69	+ 56.2878
13.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	69	+ 57.0151
14.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	69	+ 58.0180
15.	Jonathon Webb	Tekno Autosports	69	+ 1:02.9936
16.	Taz Douglas	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	69	+ 1:09.0984
17.	Dean Fiore	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	69	+ 1:13.6966
18.	Michael Patrizi	Tekno Autosports	69	+ 1:19.1132
19.	Steven Johnson	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	68	+ 1 lap
20.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	68	+ 1 lap
21.	Tony D’Alberto	HIFLEX Racing / Tony D’Alberto Racing	68	+ 1 lap
22.	Steve Owen	VIP Petfoods / Dick Johnson Racing	67	+ 2 laps
23.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	67	+ 2 laps
	Not Classified
DNF.	Karl Reindler	Fair Dinkum Sheds / Kelly Racing	45	45 laps
DNF.	James Moffat	Team Norton / Dick Johnson Racing	44	44 laps
DNF.	David Wall	Wilson Security / Brad Jones Racing	13	13 laps
DNF.	David Russell	Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing	7	7 laps
DNF.	Russell Ingall	Supercheap Auto / Walkinshaw Racing	0	0 laps