TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup has not only celebrated his 61st and 62nd career race wins in today’s two races at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit, but his Holden chassis 888-023 known as ‘Kate’ is now the most winning individual race car in the history of the Australian Touring Car Championship/ V8 Supercar Championship Series since 1960.
Whincup’s win also sees Triple Eight Race Engineering celebrate the 100th and 101st wins by Triple Eight-built chassis.
Teammate Craig Lowndes consolidated valuable championships points, finishing Race 24 eighth and Race 25 eleventh.
Holding his position off the line in today’s opening race, Whincup made a bold move on race leader Will Davison into Turn 9. The #1 driver moved into the lead and greeted the chequered flag over four seconds ahead of Davison.
The Championship leader got another solid start in Race 25 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, moving into the lead off the line and controlling the race for the entire 12-laps.
Craig Lowndes had a tumultuous day, the #888 driver made a strong start to today’s opening race, gaining three positions off the line to move into sixth. Lowndes lost a spot to Garth Tander on Lap 2 and the TeamVodafone driver ran wide into Turn 8 on Lap 10, opening the door for Mark Winterbottom to get through. Lowndes eventually finished the race eighth.
After dropping a position off the start in Saturday’s second and final race, Lowndes pressured 12th placed James Courtney to regain track position. Lowndes moved past Courtney on Lap 2 and gained another position on Lap 5 before finishing the race 11th.
Tomorrow will see the V8 Supercar Championships Series contest the final 12-lap race at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit at 1.30pm Abu Dhabi local time.
Top Ten Race 24 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series Results – Abu Dhabi
1: Jamie Whincup
2: Will Davison
3: Shane Van Gisbergen
4: Tim Slade
5: Lee Holdsworth
6: Mark Winterbottom
7: Garth Tander
8: Craig Lowndes
9: James Moffat
10: Jonathon Webb
Top Ten Race 25 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series Results – Abu Dhabi
1: Jamie Whincup
2: Will Davison
3: Shane Van Gisbergen
4: Mark Winterbottom
5: Garth Tander
6: Tim Slade
7: David Reynolds
8: Lee Holdsworth
9: Jonathon Webb
10: Fabian Coulthard
11: Craig Lowndes
Top Ten V8 Supercar Championship Points Standings:
1: Jamie Whincup, 3260 pts.
2: Mark Winterbottom, 2990 pts
3: Craig Lowndes, 2923 pts.
4: Will Davison, 2687 pts.
5: Shane Van Gisbergen, 2354 pts.
6: Tim Slade, 2233 pts.
7: Garth Tander, 2168 pts.
8: David Reynolds, 1854 pts.
9: Lee Holdsworth, 1853 pts.
10: Fabian Coulthard, 1781 pts.
