» V8s: Whincup extends points lead with Abu Dhabi Race 1 win

Jamie Whincup has further extended his championship points lead in the V8 Supercars’ visit to Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit – which act as the support category for this weekend’s Formula 1 Grand Prix – by winning today’s opening sprint race.

After starting from the front row of the grid, Whincup shadowed pole-sitter Will Davison through the opening half of the lap before he overtook the Ford driver at the end of the back straight to claim the lead of the race.

After being overtaken by Whincup, Davison’s next challenge was trying to fend off Shane van Gisbergen, who overtook the FPR driver at Turn 18, before the pair swapped places again on the third lap.

The battle between the pair gave Whincup all the room he needed to cruise to victory, leaving Davison with no choice but to follow him home in his wheeltracks, never able to close by more than a few tenths of a second per lap.

Van Gisbergen completed the podium, while Tim Slade, Lee Holdsworth and Mark Winterbottom made it five Fords in the top-six.

Winterbottom earned the place after an entertaining scrap with Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander, claiming seventh from the former when he outbraked himself, and then securing sixth by passing Tander.

The twelve-lap race – held in front of near-empty grandstands – saw two retirees. Former champion James Courtney suffered terminal suspension damage after getting caught up in an incident on the second lap.

2012 V8 Supercars Yas 400 – Race 1 Result (12 laps):

	Driver	Entry / Team	Laps	Result
1.	Jamie Whincup	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	12	27:05.295
2.	Will Davison	Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing	12	+ 4.100
3.	Shane van Gisbergen	SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing	12	+ 9.211
4.	Tim Slade	Lucky 7 Racing / Stone Brothers Racing	12	+ 10.634
5.	Lee Holdsworth	Irwin Racing / Stone Brothers Racing	12	+ 13.627
6.	Mark Winterbottom	Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing	12	+ 14.898
7.	Garth Tander	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	12	+ 15.827
8.	Craig Lowndes	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	12	+ 17.851
9.	James Moffat	Team Norton / Dick Johnson Racing	12	+ 20.255
10.	Jonathon Webb	Tekno Autosports	12	+ 24.118
11.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	12	+ 24.339
12.	Michael Patrizi	Tekno Autosports	12	+ 26.390
13.	David Reynolds	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash	12	+ 26.441
14.	Tony D’Alberto	HIFLEX Racing / Tony D’Alberto Racing	12	+ 26.708
15.	Steven Johnson	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	12	+ 30.000
16.	Michael Caruso	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	12	+ 32.897
17.	Dean Fiore	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	12	+ 36.504
18.	Russell Ingall	Supercheap Auto / Walkinshaw Racing	12	+ 39.070
19.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	12	+ 41.733
20.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	12	+ 42.724
21.	Karl Reindler	Fair Dinkum Sheds / Kelly Racing	12	+ 43.193
22.	David Wall	Wilson Security / Brad Jones Racing	12	+ 45.981
23.	Steve Owen	VIP Petfoods / Dick Johnson Racing	12	+ 49.079
24.	Tim Blanchard	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	12	+ 50.487
25.	Greg Murphy	Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing	12	+ 52.065
26.	Taz Douglas	Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	12	+ 52.683
	Not Classified
DNF.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	9	9 laps
DNF.	James Courtney	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	1	1 lap