Jamie Whincup has taken Red Bull’s second win for the day at the WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint ahead of Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin, with Championship chaser Craig Lowndes home third.
One position ahead of points leader Mark Winterbottom, despite his earlier victory Lowndes said he “needs to start winning races”, while his teammate sailed home 1.29 seconds ahead of Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin.
Whincup got the jump off the start and led for the 14-lap race – though he was investigated for that start and cleared of any breach of the rules.
After winning at the last event in New Zealand, Whincup declared he was “back” and today took his 95th career win.
“That was ace, it was all about getting off the line. A good drag race with Scotty, knew he was there… it was win or bust really,” Whincup said.
“The car was fantastic again, that was good – a good feeling.”
Winterbottom and his title contending teammate David Reynolds were right behind in fourth and fifth respectively, but have been unable to challenge the Red Bulls so far at Phillip Island.
There was a precautionary engine change for Frosty after qualifying and he said they would need to “tune her up” for tomorrow.
Winterbottom now leads Lowndes by 209 points in the Championship, with 150 up for grabs tomorrow in the 200km race. His lead was 240 over Lowndes heading into the event.
Four of the five manufacturers featured in the top 10, with the two Nissans of Michael Caruso and Rick Kelly finishing seventh and eighth.
Click here for full race results.
The V8 Supercars hit the Phillip Island circuit at 11am tomorrow for a 15-minute practice session, before qualifying and 200km around the spectacular track.
