Townsville Supercars: Whincup wins despite radio dramas

The Red Bull Holden driver made a smart getaway from pole to charge into a lead he wouldn't surrender across the 39-lap journey.

He already had a handy margin when he made his sole mandatory stop on Lap 17, taking on three new tyres before cruising to a 6.8s win.

That was despite no communication with the pitwall after Lap 10, that, combined with Whincup being unsure if he'd seen the chequered flag on the last lap, leading to him pulling up on the front straight rather than pitlane after the finish.

"We lost radio about Lap 10, I was screaming at the guys to put the [pit] board out," said Whincup. 

"And then I din't get the chequered flag; he sort of had it out but he didn't know if it was me or not. I remember the old man said to keep going until you get the chequered flag, so I kept going. I was just trying to wing it with no radio.

"All in all I'm happy with the win, the car was excellent. We used three tyres, I think most maybe only used two. But we needed a win when we could grab it."

Cam Waters finished second after running longer than most in his first stint. 

The Tickford driver didn't make his mandatory stop until 23 laps from home, using his fresher rubber to quickly close in Chaz Mostert, who'd stopped seven laps earlier.

The pair staged a brief, intense battle before Waters blasted past at Turn 11 four laps from home. 

"I had a bit of fun coming back through the pack, and racing Chaz as well," said Waters. "We actually kept it clean, which is amazing for us two..."

Mostert added: "It was a good old battle for Cam, we just had nothing for him. I wish I could have put on more of a show."

Fabian Coulthard got by David Reynolds late in the race to grab fourth, while Scott McLaughlin came all the way from 16th to finish seventh behind James Courtney.

The series leader made nearly all of his positions on the first lap, a classic Lap 1, Turn 2 concertina crash wreaking havoc on the midfield.

McLaughlin was able to sneak through, despite copping a whack on his rear bumper, emerging in eighth.

Converting that to a seventh place finish limited the damage to his series lead, his advantage still 141 points over Whincup.

The likes of Anton De Pasquale and Shane van Gisbergen weren't as fortunate in the first-lap crash, the former able to recover to 10th while the latter lost nearly 10 laps for repairs on his Red Bull Holden.

Chris Pither was the surprise of the race, the Team Sydney driver right in the midfield battle as he finished a well-crafted 11th. 

Townsville Supercars - Race 1 results:

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time
1	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB
2	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	6.885
3	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	13.667
4	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Mustang GT	20.969
5	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	22.714
6	44	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	29.345
7	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Mustang GT	32.853
8	2	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	34.662
9	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	41.499
10	99	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	41.575
11	22	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	41.870
12	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	42.714
13	5	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	43.758
14	35	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	46.292
15	55	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	1'02.613
16	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	1'02.889
17	15	Rick Kelly	Ford Mustang GT	1 lap
18	19	Alex Davison	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
19	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	9 laps
	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	16 laps
	34	Zane Goddard	Holden Commodore ZB	19 laps
	7	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	22 laps
	14	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	32 laps
	3	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	38 laps
View full results