Whincup extends championship lead with Townsville victory

Whincup extends championship lead with Townsville victory

Date: 7th July, 2012

The opening race of the Sucrogen Townsville 400 produced mixed results for TeamVodafone, a safety car on Lap 34 forcing the field to switch strategies in order to conserve fuel. Jamie Whincup came out victor in what became a fuel race, while Craig Lowndes, who was forced to cue behind his teammate, impressively fought back from 20th to finish fifth.

Qualifying third and holding his position through today’s Top Ten Shootout, Whincup got a good start and circulated inside the top four throughout the first half of the race.

The defending champion conserved fuel and kept the pressure on his competitors throughout the second half of the race. Whincup moved past Mark Winterbottom on Lap 58 when the race leader made a mistake and clipped the wall at Turn 10. 

The TeamVodafone driver took the chequered flag with ‘less than a can of Monster’ of fuel left in the tank of his Holden to record his 56th career race win.

After qualifying sixth, Lowndes gained two positions in the Top Ten Shootout and started the 72-lap race fourth. The #888 driver maintained fourth over opening laps and was looking strong as the race progressed.

After cueing behind his teammate during the second safety car Lowndes rejoined the race at the back of the field,

A bold call by Engineer Jeromy Moore to bring Lowndes back in for an extra bout of fuel during the same safety car period paid dividends with Lowndes able to push hard over the closing laps of the race.

Today's victory sees Jamie Whincup extend his lead to sit 61 points ahead of Mark Winterbottom in the V8 Supercar Championship Series, Craig  Lowndes maintains fourth on 1583 points.

Qualifying for the final 200km race of the Sucrogen Townsville 400 will get underway at 12.35pm (AEST) tomorrow followed by Race 15 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at 3.35pm (AEST).For regular news and updates, www.teamvodafone.com

Townsville 400 is proudly sponsored by Sucrogen Bioethanol, if you want to know more about Ethanol and it's benefits, head to www.ethanolfacts.com.au plus there is a great promotion on their facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sucrogen-BioEthanol/329662200445775

Top Ten V8 Supercar Championship Series Race 14 Results - Sucrogen Townsville 400

1: Jamie Whincup 
2: Mark Winterbottom
3: Garth Tander
4: Fabian Coulthard
5: Craig Lowndes
6: David Reynolds 
7: Steve Owen
8: Rick Kelly
9: Lee Holdsworth 
10: James Courtney 

Top Ten V8 Supercar Championship Series Points Standings

1:Jamie Whincup, 1644 pts.
2: Mark Winterbottom, 1583 pts.
3: Will Davison, 1525 pts.
4: Craig Lowndes, 1358 pts.
5: Shane Van Gisbergen, 1184 pts.
6: Lee Holdsworth, 1163 pts.
7: Garth Tander, 1119 pts.
8: Tim Slade, 1101 pts.
9: Fabian Coulthard, 1030 pts.
10: David Reynolds, 849 pts.

ENDS

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