Sydney Supercars: Whincup wins wild wet night race
Jamie Whincup won a wild wet weather Supercars affair under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Photo by: Mark Horsburgh, Edge Photographics
A fast start from the third row of the grid proved decisive for Whincup, the seven-time series champ bolting into the lead.
The head of the field was the place to be, too, visibility next to nothing in the pack thanks to the spray under lights.
Whincup was able to maintain the lead across the action-packed race, securing victory over Anton De Pasquale and back row starter Chaz Mostert after the race was declared with seven laps to go.
It wasn't just Whincup who made a quick getaway at the start, Bryce Fullwood coming from even further back to slot into second.
It was obvious that Fullwood's start was a little too good, though, and he was subsequently hit with a pitlane penalty for a premature launch.
There was more Lap 1 action further back in the pack, Brodie Kostecki and James Courtney both firing off at Turn 3, their respective Boost Mobile-backed cars ending up in the tyre wall.
That prompted a six-lap Safety Car to retrieve the cars and repair the barrier.
The restart provided more drama, series leader Shane van Gisbergen, who had been running fourth, sailing off the road at Turn 1.
He managed to bounce over the gravel and continue at the back of the field, an impressive charge over the laps that followed helping him back up to 12th.
However he was then slapped with a drive-though for passing De Pasquale before the control line at the restart – only for Triple Eight to successfully argue that De Pasquale had backed off.
The penalty was revoked, only for van Gisbergen to then cop another one when his car was dropped with the rattle gun on the right rear during his stop.
At the front of the field Whincup continued to lead ahead of De Pasquale, while Mostert – coming from the back row after being excluded from qualifying – made great progress by running long.
A Lap 21 Safety Car, called when Jake Kostecki sent his Matt Stone Racing entry into the wall, then played into Mostert's hands, a free stop helping him protect his position on the road.
That Safety Car eventually became a red flag with seven laps to go, before race control opted to call the race off.
That left Whincup as the winner from De Pasquale and Mostert.
"The car lit up off the start, which is the main thing, and I had some nice clean air," said Whincup of his 124th career win.
"It's a weird one to celebrate. Wins don't come very often, so I'm pumped for the win. Supercars did a good job. The fact we've got to rock up here next week as well, we're in a position where we can't be tearing cars up.
"The driver in me says keep going, the team owner in me says it was the right thing to do."
Mostert, meanwhile, was slightly bemused with his third place finish.
"I'm gutted not starting on the front row," he said. "The car was fantastic. The visibility wasn't too bad, I reckon it's worse in the day time with the glare.
"Lots of fun. I don't know how I got to third, I just put my head down and got on with it."
Nick Percat and Tim Slade finished fourth and fifth, the latter dealing without a wiper for most of the race, ahead of Will Brown and Will Davison.
Cam Waters, Todd Hazelwood and Andre Heimgartner were next, while Kelly Grove's sub driver Luke Youlden finish an impressive 11th.
Van Gisbergen was ultimately classified 23rd, his points margin to Whincup cut back to a still very healthy 337.
Cla | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Interval | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Jamie Whincup
|
Holden Commodore ZB | - | |||
2 |
Anton De Pasquale
|
Ford Mustang GT | 1.190 | 1.190 | 1.190 | |
3 |
Chaz Mostert
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 2.437 | 2.438 | 1.247 | |
4 |
Nick Percat
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 3.414 | 3.414 | 0.977 | |
5 |
Tim Slade
|
Ford Mustang GT | 4.520 | 4.521 | 1.107 | |
6 |
Will Brown
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 5.262 | 5.262 | 0.742 | |
7 |
Will Davison
|
Ford Mustang GT | 6.265 | 6.265 | 1.003 | |
8 |
Cameron Waters
|
Ford Mustang GT | 7.121 | 7.121 | 0.856 | |
9 |
Todd Hazelwood
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 7.747 | 7.747 | 0.626 | |
10 |
Andre Heimgartner
|
Ford Mustang GT | 9.277 | 9.277 | 1.530 | |
11 |
Luke Youlden
|
Ford Mustang GT | 10.066 | 10.067 | 0.790 | |
12 |
Garry Jacobson
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 10.478 | 10.478 | 0.412 | |
13 |
Zane Goddard
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 11.310 | 11.310 | 0.832 | |
14 |
Jack Le Brocq
|
Ford Mustang GT | 13.147 | 13.147 | 1.837 | |
15 |
Mark Winterbottom
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 13.969 | 13.969 | 0.822 | |
16 |
Thomas Randle
|
Ford Mustang GT | 14.695 | 14.696 | 0.726 | |
17 |
Jack Smith
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 15.752 | 15.752 | 1.057 | |
18 |
Scott Pye
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 16.661 | 16.662 | 0.909 | |
19 |
Fabian Coulthard
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 17.531 | 17.531 | 0.870 | |
20 |
Macauley Jones
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 18.639 | 18.639 | 1.108 | |
21 |
Kurt Kostecki
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 20.128 | 20.128 | 1.489 | |
22 |
Bryce Fullwood
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 21.814 | 21.814 | 1.686 | |
23 |
Shane van Gisbergen
|
Holden Commodore ZB | 24.447 | 24.448 | 2.633 | |
Jake Kostecki
|
Holden Commodore ZB | |||||
Brodie Kostecki
|
Holden Commodore ZB | |||||
James Courtney
|
Ford Mustang GT | |||||
View full results |
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