Whincup wins first Townsville V8 race

V8 Supercar champion Jamie Whincup praised the speed of his Ford after climbing
through the field to win race one of the inaugural Townsville 400 event on Saturday.
The TeamVodafone driver started the 71-lap race on the 2.87km street circuit in
ninth place but used a combination of luck and car speed to claim his seventh win of
the V8 season.
Whincup progressed to the lead when pole holder Lee Holdsworth and early leader
James Courtney were both stopped by engine trouble.
He avoided a penalty when he rear-ended Jack Perkin's Holden midway through the race
and held off a late charge by Holden Racing Team duo Will Davison and Garth Tander
to clinch the first V8 Supercar race ever held in north Queensland.
"I just had a rocket ship underneath me," Whincup said.
"The car's strong and when we get it right it's really, really fast.
"I was just able to come through the pack, get a nice comfortable lead, there were a
few little ups and downs there but today was just about car speed and fantastic
teamwork."
Davison's second place means Whincup's gap hasn't extended too much, with the Holden
driver now on 1266 championship points to Whincup's 1422.
Tander also confirmed his place in the championship top three just a further 183
points behind his HRT teammate.
Stewards ruled after the race they did not need to investigate Whincup's contact
with Perkins but Davison suggested the Ford driver had been lucky to escape
punishment.
"He's pretty lucky I reckon," Davison said.
"How he got away with that, I don't know what the officials are thinking at the
moment."
While Whincup was blessed with good fortune, Courtney just can't buy a trick in his
first year with the Dick Johnson Racing team.
After jumping Holdsworth at the start of the race to claim pole, the Ford driver
blew two cylinders by the race's seventh lap and was forced to retire.
A similar fate befell Holdsworth, who was pushing Whincup hard in his Holden before
an oil issue caused him to retire on lap 30.
Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes kept his championship hopes alive by racing from
15th place on the starting grid to finish fourth with Darwin race two winner Michael
Caruso fifth.
The race was scheduled for 72 laps but ended after 71 due to time constraints.
The Townsville 400 continues on Sunday with an all-in qualifying session ahead of
another 72-lap race.