While carnage reigned throughout the opening ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600 race, TeamVodafone managed to avoid the mayhem, Jamie Whincup and Sebastien Bourdais taking victory in the time certain race while Craig Lowndes and co-driver Richard Lyons ended the hard fought race sixth.
Today’s result seals TeamVodafone’s 11th consecutive race win in 2012 and marks the team’s 40th race win under the Holden marque.
Qualifying second, Whincup dominated his home-track in the Top Ten Shootout, securing pole position for the opening Gold Coast race.
Bourdais was tasked with starting the 300km race but a massive shunt off the line saw the race red flagged.
The race was forced into a second restart after another start line incident saw a stalled car end up in a multi-car pile up.
After successfully avoiding the two melee’s, Bourdais battled with Ford rival Mika Salo for the lead, falling to second second as they approached Turn 1.
A slick stop on Lap 32 put Whincup in the #1 TeamVodafone Commodore. The defending Champion moved into the race lead on Lap 49 after Ford driver Will Davison made contact with the wall at Turn 11.
After Lowndes qualified 13th, Lyons was thrown amongst the madness, narrowly avoiding both shunts and circulating cleanly before handing the #888 Commodore to Lowndes on Lap 38.
Lowndes powered through the field and was able to gain seven spots from his starting position to end the race sixth.
The reigning Champion has extended his lead in the 2012 V8 Supercar Championship Series and now sits 209 points ahead of Lowndes who is tied on 2713 points with Ford rival Mark Winterbottom.
Tomorrow will see Qualifying at 11.10am (AEST) followed by the final ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600 race at 1.40pm (AEST).
Top Ten V8 Supercar Championship Series Race 22 Results:
1: J.Whincup/ S.Bourdais
2: J.Webb/ M.Lieb
3: M.Winterbottom/ W.Power
4: G.Tander/ R.Briscoe
5: T.Slade/ D.Brabham
6: C.Lowndes/ R.Lyons
7: J.Courtney/ D.Turner
8: R.Kelly/ G.Rahal
9: R.Ingall/ P.Dumbreck
10: S.Van Gisbergen/ J.Bleekmolen
Top Ten V8 Supercar Championship Point Standings:
1: Jamie Whincup, 2922 pts.
2: Craig Lowndes, 2713 pts.
2: Mark Winterbottom, 2713 pts.
4: Will Davison, 2353 pts.
5: Shane Van Gisbergen, 2098 pts.
6: Tim Slade, 1965 pts.
7: Garth Tander, 1944 pts.
8: David Reynolds, 1680 pts.
9: James Courtney, 1671 pts.
10: Lee Holdsworth, 1629 pts
