Hidden Valley V8 Supercars: Jamie Whincup ends barren run
Jamie Whincup ended a 12-race barren period by winning the V8 Supercars opener at Hidden Valley
Reigning champion Whincup had not won a race since round five at Symmons Plains in late March, but claimed a double pole in Saturday morning's qualifying session.
That was the launchpad for a dominant first race, and he pulled clear of the field while front row partner Scott McLaughlin's Volvo was bundled down to fourth by Whincup's Triple Eight team-mate Craig Lowndes and Tekno driver Shane van Gisbergen.
Whincup never came under threat and took victory by 4.3 seconds.
Van Gisbergen put plenty of pressure on Lowndes, but could not prevent yet another Triple Eight Holden one-two.
McLaughlin gradually lost touch with the podium fight in fourth.
Lowndes made some inroads into Mark Winterbottom's championship lead as the Ford Performance Racing driver was stuck back in sixth place, unable to overtake Garth Tander despite repeated efforts.
Results - 35 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Holden 42m27.6268s 2. Craig Lowndes Triple Eight Holden +4.3544s 3. Shane van Gisbergen Tekno Holden +4.7986s 4. Scott McLaughlin GRM Volvo +13.0258s 5. Garth Tander HRT Holden +16.0673s 6. Mark Winterbottom FPR Ford +16.2773s 7. Jason Bright Brad Jones Holden +19.6040s 8. James Courtney HRT Holden +20.6288s 9. Fabian Coulthard Brad Jones Holden +21.0822s 10. Lee Holdsworth Erebus Mercedes +22.0906s 11. James Moffat Nissan +25.6611s 12. Michael Caruso Nissan +26.5110s 13. David Reynolds Rod Nash/FPR Ford +27.1623s 14. Chaz Mostert FPR Ford +29.9752s 15. Scott Pye Dick Johnson Ford +31.0248s 16. Tim Slade Rosenberg/HRT Holden +31.4550s 17. Rick Kelly Nissan +32.9218s 18. David Wall Dick Johnson Ford +35.9648s 19. Russell Ingall Dumbrell Holden +37.4667s 20. Todd Kelly Nissan +38.8646s 21. Dale Wood Britek/BJR Holden +45.6192s 22. Robert Dahlgren GRM Volvo +48.5802s 23. Nick Percat Walkinshaw/HRT Holden +52.0143s 24. Jack Perkins Schwerkolt/FPR Ford +54.6939s Retirements: Will Davison Erebus Mercedes 12 laps
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments