Whincup Rises To Tasmania Challenge

Jamie Whincup has extended the gap at the top of the V8 Supercar Championship table with a dominant win in today’s opening race of the Falken Tasmania Challenge.

Finishing 8.7 seconds clear of TeamVodafone team-mate and nearest championship rival, Craig Lowndes, the series leader recorded his eighth win of the season and his 50^th championship victory to take a 155-point lead in
the series.

Starting from pole, Whincup was beaten off the line by Orrcon Steel FPR's Mark Winterbottom, but with Winterbottom suffering mid-corner understeer at turn six, just ten laps later, Whincup seized back the lead. From there on, he was never troubled, smashing the restart and assuming control of the race after a half-distance safety-car period when Greg Murphy's Pepsi Max Crew Holden lost its rear right wheel on lap 24.

“This is the start of the end, we wanted to come out strong and that’s exactly what’s happened. The car was fantastic and I couldn’t be happier,” said Whincup.

“Frosty got me at the start which was disappointing, but we fought on and both TeamVodafone cars were unbelievably strong today.

“Every race is unbelievably important from here on in and we need to keep doing a good solid job.”

While Whincup cruised to victory, teammate Lowndes spent much of the race battling with Shane Van Gisbergen, until a lock-up on lap 32 while pressuring Will Davison sent the SP Tools Racing Falcon tumbling back down the order.

Davison, who had jumped from fifth to second in the Trading Post FPR Falcon by taking just two tyres in his stop, held Lowndes at bay but lost position with just eight laps to go as Lowndes slipped through at turn six in an identical move to the one Whincup had pulled on Winterbottom earlier in the race.

Starting from 10th, Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander had made ground in the early stages and he snatched the final podium spot when Winterbottom ran deep at hairpin trying to pass his teammate Davison.

Winterbottom and Davison came home close together in fourth and fifth, while Irwin Racing's Alex Davison, Shane van Gisbergen, Bundaberg Racing's Fabian Coulthard, Fujitsu Racing GRM's Michael Caruso and Toll Holden Team Racing's James Courtney rounded out the top ten.

A longer 200km race takes place on Sunday after a fresh qualifying session in the morning.

Race 23 results:

Pos	Entrant	Driver	Vehicle	Fastest Lap	Fastest Lap Time	Race Time	Laps	Points
1	TeamVodafone	Jamie Whincup	Commodore VE2	8	00:52:0641	45:48:4135	50	150
2	TeamVodafone	Craig Lowndes	Commodore VE2	19	00:52:0280	45:57:1538	50	138
3	Toll Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Commodore VE2	23	00:52:0078	46:00:3676	50	129
4	Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon	Mark Winterbottom	Falcon FG	22	00:52:0565	46:00:5722	50	120
5	Trading Post FPR Falcon	Will Davison	Falcon FG	4	00:52:1897	46:01:1301	50	111
6	Irwin Racing	Alex Davison	Falcon FG	31	00:52:1402	46:02:8041	50	102
7	SP Tools Racing	Shane van Gisbergen	Falcon FG	23	00:52:0272	46:06:7000	50	96
8	Bundaberg Racing	Fabian Coulthard	Commodore VE2	23	00:52:2734	46:08:0639	50	90
9	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Michael Caruso	Commodore VE2	20	00:52:3897	46:09:3683	50	84
10	Toll Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Commodore VE2	23	00:52:3197	46:09:5684	50	78
11	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Todd Kelly	Commodore VE2	22	00:52:3141	46:09:7091	50	72
12	Lucky 7 Racing	Tim Slade	Falcon FG	5	00:52:5761	46:10:2384	50	69
13	The Bottle-O Racing Team	Paul Dumbrell	Falcon FG	18	00:52:1240	46:12:6981	50	66
14	Jack Daniel’s Racing	Rick Kelly	Commodore VE2	23	00:52:4710	46:13:0439	50	63
15	Wilson Security Racing	Tony D’Alberto	Falcon FG	7	00:52:5308	46:15:3202	50	60
16	Fujitsu Racing GRM	Lee Holdsworth	Commodore VE2	23	00:52:0672	46:15:4030	50	57
17	VIP Petfoods	Steve Owen	Commodore VE2	21	00:52:6163	46:16:7990	50	54
18	Jana Living Racing	Jason Bargwanna	Commodore VE2	21	00:52:6583	46:19:0737	50	51
19	Triple F Racing	Dean Fiore	Falcon FG	6	00:52:7313	46:20:2875	50	48
20	Jim Beam Racing	James Moffat	Falcon FG	22	00:52:7220	46:20:7530	50	45
21	Mother Energy Racing Team	Jonathon Webb	Falcon FG	31	00:52:7464	46:24:3044	50	42
22	Stratco Racing	David Reynolds	Commodore VE2	6	00:52:5663	46:24:5221	50	39
23	Jim Beam Racing	Steven Johnson	Falcon FG	22	00:52:7671	46:26:3068	50	36
24	Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing	Karl Reindler	Commodore VE2	30	00:52:9025	46:26:7521	50	33
25	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Commodore VE2	5	00:52:4678	46:31:0243	50	30
26	Gulf Western Oil Racing	Warren Luff	Commodore VE2	12	00:52:7219	46:29:1078	44	27
DNF	Supercheap Auto Racing	Russell Ingall	Commodore VE2	11	00:52:7690	22:07:6164	24	0
DNF	Pepsi Max Crew	Greg Murphy	Commodore VE2	6	00:52:5777	20:16:9120	22	0