Red Bull Holden Racing’s Jamie Whincup took his second victory of the Supercars season in the opening race of the Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint. Following overall victory at Albert Park, Whincup made the most of a tough race for pole-sitting team-mate Shane van Gisbergen to continue his move up the points standings.
“I was a little disappointed I didn’t get the qualifying lap that I could’ve today, the car was at its worst when we needed it the most,” commented Whincup. “It’s okay though, it was good enough for the front row which is great. I bogged the start and now that’s two bad starts in a row for me so I’m pretty disappointed by that.
“We had pure pace, Shane (van Gisbergen) pitted and we bolted so the pace got us out in the lead and we were able to control the race from there. We had our head down and went as hard as we could but, although it might look simple on the outside, there’s just so much going on around a short little track like this.
“We had plenty of pressure from behind with a lot of guys pitting late, so there was a lot going on although it looked like we were out the front controlling it. It was lucky we didn’t need a safety car at the end because our tyres were pretty much done.”
Whincup took the flag 2.3 seconds clear of Craig Lowndes, who continued his strong form from practice and qualifying to take his best race result since Sydney Motorsport Park in August 2016.
James Courtney, David Reynolds, Fabian Coulthard and van Gisbergen completed the top six in a 120km race that ran without a Safety Car.
DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1. Shane van Gisbergen 588
2. David Reynolds 557
3. Jamie Whincup 529
4. Scott McLaughlin 509
5. James Courtney 504
6. Scott Pye 487
7. Craig Lowndes 447
8. Nick Percat 421
9. Fabian Coulthard 419
10. Chaz Mostert 416
TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
1. Triple Eight Race Engineering 1117
2. Walkinshaw Andretti United 991
3. Shell V-Power Racing Team 928
4. Brad Jones Racing 837
5. Tickford Racing (Winterbottom/Mostert) 808
6. Erebus Motorsport 751
7. Nissan NISMO (Caruso/De Silvestro) 539
8. Garry Rogers Motorsport 524
9. Nissan Motorsport (Kelly/Heimgartner) 495
10. Tickford Racing (Waters/Stanaway) 474
Comments