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Whincup Racks up Back-to-back Wins

Jamie Whincup of Team Vodafone racked up back-to-back wins with victory in Race 2 of the Australia V8 400 Supercars Championship at the 4.7km Yas Marina Circuit.

Whincup had won Race 1 on Friday.

The Aussie V8 Championship was making its debut in Abu Dhabi and was the season opener for the 15-round championship. Friday’s Race 1 went down in history as the first ever night race of the series. The Australian V8 Supercars Championship was also the first to use an exciting feature of Yas Marina Circuit - a high speed off-camber left, right, left turn sequence - known as ‘the Corkscrew’, which drops 15 metres in elevation across 100 metres in distance – a feature that is sure to pose big challenges to the drivers.

Whincup, who lined up second on the grid, made a great start with his Holden Commodore VE, getting ahead of pole-sitter Mark Winterbottom of Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon, in a Ford Falcon FG, and there was no looking back thereafter.

For the last two years, Whincup raced Ford Falcons, but this year changed to Holden Commodores and were debuting their brand new cars in Abu Dhabi.

Whincup won the race by 4.06 seconds. He finished the 43-lap race with a time of 1:27:28.373 seconds. Mark WInterbottom was second with a time of 1:27:32.435 seconds. Shane van Gisbergen of SP Tools Racing, who qualified seventh, finished third in his Ford Falcon FG, with a timing of 1:27:40.204 seconds.

Rick Kelly of Jack Daniels Racing, driving a Holden Commodore VE, was fourth with a time of 1:27.45.729 seconds. He had qualified third. Craig Lowndes of Team Vodafone, who had finished second behind teammate Whincup in Race 1 on Friday, rounded out the top five, with a time of 1:27:46.626 seconds.

Heading into next weekend’s second round of the V8 Supercar season in Bahrain, Whincup has a perfect score of 300 championship points, while Winterbottom is second with 267. Lowndes, on 249 points, rounds out the top three.

Earlier in qualifying, Ford’s Mark Winterbottom (Ford Performance Racing) took pole position for Race 2. It was the 13^th pole position of his career.

The 28-year-old began Friday’s race in second position, but was found to have jumped the start and was forced to serve a 10-second penalty in the pits.

Joining Winterbottom on the front row was defending champion Holden’s Jamie Whincup of TeamVodafone, Friday’s race winner, while row two comprised Holden’s Rick Kelly and stablemate Garth Tander, who had a spin on his final flying lap. Ford’s James Courtney and Whincup’s teammate Craig Lowndes rounded out the fastest six qualifiers in the 29-car field, which was made up of 19 Holdens and 10 Fords this weekend.

Rick Kelly was the early pace-setter in the session despite being the final man to complete his first timed lap, and he lowered the time to beat further with just four minutes remaining. Whincup, who was languishing in 17^th in the final stages of the session after running wide on the entry to Turn 18, unleashed a lap of 1:58.2150 with two minutes remaining to go top, and his effort looked good enough for back-to-back poles at the Yas Marina Circuit until Winterbottom beat it by 0.1780secs on his fifth and final lap.

Race 2 classification (after 43 laps) (Top 10): Jamie Whincup (Team Vodafone) 1:27:28.373s; Mark WInterbottom (Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon) 1:27:32.435; Shane van Gisbergen (SP Tools Racing) 1:27:40.204; Rick Kelly (Jack Daniels Racing) 1:27:45.729; Craig Lowndes (Team Vodafone) 1:27:46.626; James Courtney (Jim Beam Racing) 1:27:59.924; Lee Holdsworth (Fujitsu Racing/GRM) 1:28:03.837; Steven Johnson (Jim Beam Racing) 1:28:03.992; Russell Ingall (Supercheap Auto Racing) 1:28:07.763; Jason Bright (Trading Post Racing) 1: 28:10.466.

james@khaleejtimes.com