Sandown 500: Whincup and Dumbrell seal Holden Triple Eight podium

The reigning series champion Whincup and his vastly-experienced team-mate Dumbrell were untouchable in the opening endurance race of the season, cruising to victory ahead of team-mates Shane van Gisbergen/Earl Bamber and Craig Lowndes/Steve Richards.

It's the third Sandown 500 win for Whincup and Dumbrell as an endurance duo.

Dumbrell made light work of the first stint, bolting from the outside of the front row and into the lead.

He survived two early safety cars before handing the Commodore over to Whincup with a narrow advantage ahead of Lowndes after overtaking Fabian Coulthard.

At half-distance, Shane van Gisbergen followed Lowndes through and made it a Triple Eight one-two-three, demoting Coulthard.

The Kiwi had been handed the car in sixth place, following an action-packed pair of stints from co-driver Earl Bamber.

The Le Mans winner had mostly run around the back end of the Top 10, and was lucky to remain in the race when he was fired across the grass by Luke Youlden as they scrapped over ninth.

Van Gisbergen quickly got on the back of Coulthard, and emulated Lowndes in making a move stick.

Lowndes pitted shortly after half-distance, followed by van Gisbergen on lap 92 and Whincup a lap later.

There was a small undercut effect for Lowndes, the gap to Whincup closer to 2s as they settled into the fourth stint of the race.

Once again Whincup was able to slowly stretch the advantage out, to 10s, before the fourth and final round of stops.

From there it was a case of controlling the race to put the finishing touches on a perfect 6.8s win.

"Couldn't be happier, the car's been awesome all weekend," said Whincup.

"PD did a fantastic job.

"We just kept our head down and kept concentrating.

"This race has gotten away from us a few times, but thankfully it was a nice and clean race."

There was a late change of position in the top three during the penultimate stint.

With little threat from behind, Lowndes opted to back off and hand second over to points leader van Gisbergen on lap 123.

That meant van Gisbergen came home two spots clear of title rival Scott McLaughlin in fourth, extending his gap at the top of the standings to 55 points.

David Reynolds and Luke Youlden came home fifth, followed by an under-the-radar Scott Pye/Warren Luff combo.

Coulthard/Tony D'Alberto fell back to seventh over the last two stints.

Results - 161 laps

Drivers' standings