Townsville Supercars: Whincup breaks through for 105th win

Whincup took what was his first win of the 2017 season after a near-flawless drive, jumping McLaughlin at the first stops and holding off the in-form Kiwi for a 1.6-second win.

The victory puts him level at the top of the all-time wins list with Triple Eight teammate Craig Lowndes, and just six points behind McLaughlin in the points.

“It took a while, what a relief,” said Whincup.

“I’ve been trying to get a win this year, it’s been bloody tough. We dug deep; the car was quick, and we gave it everything we had.

“I like to feel we deserved this one. It’s a great feeling. I’ll have a few beers tonight, for sure.”

McLaughlin set up the first stint with a textbook opening lap from pole position, his cause helped slightly when a fast-starting David Reynolds inserted himself between the leading Penske Ford and the two Red Bull Holdens, Whincup leading Shane van Gisbergen after making a better start.

McLaughlin wasn’t able to get too far down the road, though. After barging his way past Reynolds on Lap 6, Whincup was able to shadow the Shell-backed Falcon across the remainder of the first stint, the gap hovering around a second.

Things really started to heat up between the two leaders as the first stops shook out. Whincup dived into the lane on Lap 15, before McLaughlin followed him in a lap later. Having taken on similar amounts of fuel they wound up side-by-side as McLaughlin rejoined, Whincup coming out on top of short, but intense, battle for the effective lead.

The battle continued across the second stint, the pair running nose-to-tail. For nearly 20 laps the gap hung around under two seconds, before Whincup finally broke away at half-race distance. The gap was stretched out to around three-and-a-half seconds before Whincup made his second stop on Lap 41.

McLaughlin waited two laps before making his second stop, and while he re-emerged behind Whincup the gap was back to a second. Like in the second stint the gap held steady as the pair staged a tense battle for the lead, until Whincup finally found some breathing room and eased out to almost two seconds ahead with around 10 laps to go.

Despite having to contend with some lapped traffic in the closing stages Whincup was able to come take his 105th win by 1.6s, while McLaughlin was forced to sweat it out on his way to second after his cool suit failed late in the last stint.

Van Gisbergen finished a somewhat lonely third, having lost time early in the first stint when it took him four extra laps to get past Reynolds compared to Whincup. He managed to keep Whincup and McLaughlin in sight throughout the race, but never played any serious role in the battle for the lead, ultimately coming home 7.3s behind his teammate.

There was an ever bigger gap back to Mark Winterbottom, who emerged as the best of the Prodrive Fords ahead of teammate Chaz Mostert. There was a pair of GRM Commodores next in line, Garth Tander leading James Moffat, while James Courtney, Will Davison, and Lowndes rounded out the Top 10.

For the second day in a row former points leader Fabian Coulthard had a shocker. The Penske driver ran wide on the first lap and dropped to the back end of the midfield, before clambering into the side of Tim Slade at the last corner. That resulted in a 15-second penalty, which he was forced to serve on the back of his first stop. He ended the day in 21st position, losing more ground to McLaughlin and Whincup in the title fight.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Gap
1	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF
2	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG-X	1.6494
3	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	7.3193
4	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG-X	31.4243
5	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG-X	34.6192
6	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	35.0159
7	34	James Moffat	Holden Commodore VF	40.0452
8	19	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	46.6986
9	22	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	49.1262
10	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	1'00.6046
11	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	1'01.9225
12	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'05.5559
13	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	1'06.8007
14	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG-X	1'08.9439
15	18	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.3619
16	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	1'09.7283
17	7	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	1'10.1596
18	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	1'12.7624
19	56	Jason Bright	Ford Falcon FG-X	1 lap
20	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	1 lap
21	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG-X	1 lap
22	99	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	1 lap
23	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	1 lap
24	62	Alex Rullo	Holden Commodore VF	1 lap
25	3	Aaren Russell	Holden Commodore VF	2 laps
	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF