Jamie Whincup won today’s first race of the New Zealand weekend, securing the 102nd victory of his Supercar career in the process. Teammate and pole sitter Shane van Gisbergen was second ahead of third placed driver, Scott McLaughlin. Mark Winterbottom, Garth Tander and James Courtney followed them home with Rick Kelly, Michael Caruso, Scott Pye and Will Davison rounding out the top ten.
Whincup got a brilliant start to take to the lead of the 35 lap event as pole sitter Shane van Gisbergen bogged down a little. Scott McLaughlin moved into third and had a minor off at the first corner but managed to come back on track still in third place.
Race 24 was red flagged after the BOC contender of Jason Bright was nudged by Chris Pither after he got a little too much kerb and accidently hit Bright on lap 2. Thankfully the driver was okay after going across the grass and becoming wedged at the entry to pit lane.
The team will now have to work tirelessly to try and get the car turned around for tomorrow’s action as it certainly won’t make it the grid for race 25 this afternoon. Chris Pither was given a drive through penalty, which he took on lap 8, for his part in knocking the BOC into oblivion.
The rain actually started falling a little while the race was suspended but eased off by the time the restart got underway. With low tyre pressure and temperature, Whincup managed his restart brilliantly as some of the drivers seemed to be caught napping and decent sized gaps began to appear.
Chaz Mostert went through the gravel trap after overcooking it a little bit and ended up down in second last place. Dale Wood ran wide at turn 5 and went down the escape road and bumped into Todd Kelly as he made his way back on track. Unfortunately that bent Kelly’s steering and he too went off the circuit as Craig Lowndes made his way past.
On lap 17 Dale Wood was given the bad sportsmanship flag for cutting the chicane. Slade makes a move on Wood, who in turn battles with James Moffatt. Massive damage to Dale Wood after heavy contact with James Moffat, who also cut across the grass before dangerously rejoining the circuit, something that should have incurred a penalty according to Wood.
The laps ticked down and Whincup remained in the lead to take the first win of the weekend, six and half seconds in the lead!
