Jamie Whincup takes Race Two of the Tasmania Challenge Photo credit: TeamVodafone
Jamie Whincup overcame an early race spin to win the second race of the Tasmania Challenge.
The win is his eighth victory at the Symmons Plains Raceway, making him the most successful driver at this track in the history of the V8 Supercars Championship.
Starting from fifth on the grid, the TeamVodafone pilot quickly caught and dispatched of SP Tools Racing's Shane Van Gisbergen and Mark Winterbottom in the opening laps to go third behind team-mate Craig Lowndes and Will Davison before giving the positions back when he locked up and spun at the Turn 4 hairpin on lap nine to avoid contact with Davison.
Pole-sitter Lowndes led the early stages of the race before being leapfrogged by his fellow front-row starter in the first round of stops as the field changed from hard to soft tyres.
Battling for the lead with Davison, Lowndes then looked to the outside of the Tradingpost FPR Falcon on the approach to the Turn 4 hairpin, but crashed out of the race after contact with Davison broke the left-front suspension of the TeamVodafone Commodore.
Davison maintained the lead but struggled for pace in the middle stint and was caught first by Winterbottom and then three laps later by Whincup.
Just 1.5s behind race leader Winterbottom by the time the final stops unfolded, Whincup was handed the lead as the Orrcon Steel FPR driver stalled leaving the pits dropping him to fifth. Whincup breezed through to take a comfortable win from van Gisbergen with Davison rounding out the podium.
“We had a tough weekend all in all so to come away with that I’m a little bit shocked,” said Whincup.
“It’s crazy how this sport works. Nothing went right all weekend and we walk away with a third and a win. I don’t want to dwell on the negatives but we’ll improve on that.
“Lucky enough in the spin I nailed it and spun it around!”
Tim Slade (Lucky 7 Racing), Mark Winterbottom took fourth and fifth respectively, while Lee Holdsworth (IRWIN Racing), Michael Caruso (Fujitsu Racing GRM) who started from 22nd, James Courtney (Holden Racing Team), Jonathon Webb (Tekno Autosports) and Todd Kelly (Jack Daniels Racing) who started 19th completed the top ten.
Davison now leads the championship by just 18 points over Whincup after four races, with Winterbottom a further six points adrift in third.
Race 4 result:
| 1 | Jamie Whincup | TeamVodafone | Holden Commodore VE2 | 84 | 01:17:26.3867 |
| 2 | Shane Van Gisbergen | SP Tools Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 84 | 01:17:31.3871 |
| 3 | Will Davison | Trading Post FPR Ford | Ford Falcon FG | 84 | 01:17:33.0695 |
| 4 | Tim Slade | Lucky 7 Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 84 | 01:17:34.1530 |
| 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Orrcon Steel FPR Ford | Ford Falcon FG | 84 | 01:17:35.6296 |
| 6 | Lee Holdsworth | Irwin Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 84 | 01:17:36.9986 |
| 7 | Michael Caruso | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Holden Commodore VE2 | 84 | 01:17:46.1663 |
| 8 | James Courtney | Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore VE2 | 84 | 01:17:50.8009 |
| 9 | Jonathon Webb | Tekno Autosports | Holden Commodore VE2 | 84 | 01:17:54.0032 |
| 10 | Todd Kelly | Jack Daniel's Racing | Holden Commodore VE2 | 84 | 01:17:54.9636 |
| 11 | Fabian Coulthard | Lockwood Racing | Holden Commodore VE2 | 84 | 01:18:00.9290 |
| 12 | Steve Owen | VIP Petfoods | Ford Falcon FG | 84 | 01:18:01.5134 |
| 13 | Alexandre Premat | Fujitsu Racing GRM | Holden Commodore VE2 | 84 | 01:18:04.2940 |
| 14 | Jason Bright | Team BOC | Holden Commodore VE2 | 84 | 01:18:04.8011 |
| 15 | Tony D'Alberto | Tony D'Alberto Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 84 | 01:18:08.6365 |
| 16 | Rick Kelly | Jack Daniel's Racing | Holden Commodore VE2 | 84 | 01:18:09.3655 |
| 17 | Michael Patrizi | Tekno Autosports | Holden Commodore VE2 | 84 | 01:18:09.5724 |
| 18 | Dean Fiore | Jim Beam Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 84 | 01:18:14.3969 |
| 19 | James Moffat | Team Norton DJR | Ford Falcon FG | 84 | 01:18:15.3783 |
| 20 | Taz Douglas | Team iSelect | Holden Commodore VE2 | 84 | 01:18:15.7594 |
| 21 | Steven Johnson | Jim Beam Racing | Ford Falcon FG | 83 | 01:17:32.4092 |
| 22 | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | Holden Commodore VE2 | 83 | 01:17:51.6585 |
| 23 | David Wall | Wilson Security Racing | Holden Commodore VE2 | 83 | 01:17:56.4050 |
| 24 | Karl Reindler | Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing | Holden Commodore VE2 | 83 | 01:18:05.8503 |
| 25 | Russell Ingall | Supercheap Auto Racing | Holden Commodore VE2 | 82 | 01:17:48.1382 |
| 26 | David Reynolds | The Bottle-O Racing Team | Ford Falcon FG | 72 | 01:18:16.4257 |
| DNF | David Russell | Pepsi Max Crew | Holden Commodore VE2 | 77 | 01:13:31.8133 |
| DNF | Craig Lowndes | TeamVodafone | Holden Commodore VE2 | 29 | 26:03.4647 |
