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Chaz Mostert and Jamie Whincup have won races 21 and 22 of the V8 Supercar championship to close the gap on Mark Winterbottom in the title race.
In a day where Mark Winterbottom gained a larger lead in the championship, Chaz Mostert and Jamie Whincup closed their gaps to the leader as they took the two races at Sydney Motorsport Park.
For Mostert it was another dominant day in qualifying as he took both pole positions for the Saturday afternoon races.
>>REPORT: Whincup returns to V8 winner’s circle
He now has 10 pole positions for the year and excelled on both tyre compounds in use.
On hard tyres, for race 21, he was quicker than Mark Winterbottom as they locked out the front row for the race.
Mostert then broke the lap record for Sydney Motorsport Park – in a V8 Supercar – on soft tyres in qualifying for race 22.
In a welcome return to form for Red Bull Racing, Jamie Whincup was able to qualify in 3rd and 2nd respectively for both races.
At the start of race 21, Mostert would get a good start, and only just avoid a penalty for jumping the start.
His car would move, just before the green light, but he remained behind the line and received no penalty.
Positions would stay the same as qualifying for the top 5, as Mostert beat Winterbottom into the first turn, and Whincup did the same against David Reynolds.
That would be how they remained as Mostert moved away from Winterbottom and Whincup remained in third.
In the last twelve laps of the race, because of the hard tyre and the short distance of the race, just one position would change among the 25 drivers.
The only drama for the race happened early as Nick Percat spun Dale Wood around on the fourth lap.
After the race, on the cool down lap, Wood would make contact with Percat and bend his steering.
They would then have an altercation in pit lane with both exchanging verbal comments to each other.
The incident, at time of writing, is in the hands of the officials.
This biff continued into race 22 with the opening lap the most dramatic of the weekend so far.
Mostert would lose position early, from pole, as Whincup and Fabian Coulthard overtook him in the first two turns of the race.
These two would battle for the race win over the next 15 laps.
Behind them, there was plenty of drama, as drivers went off the track.
Scott Pye was the first as he was spun around by one of the Nissan drivers into turn 5.
By the end of the lap, Rick Kelly and Jason Bright joined Pye, as they went off the track after turn 8.
Bright made contact with Kelly to send him off the circuit, with Garth Tander then doing the same to Bright, as the Brad Jones Racing driver slowed after the contact with Kelly.
Bright would have further problems after going straight on into turn 1 with a tyre problem on lap 8.
He would lose two laps, replace the tyre, and finish 24th in the race.
Up front the problems continued as Whincup had to hold off a quick Coulthard with a car that sounded like a tractor.
There was a crack in the exhaust, which created the sound, but it didn’t have any impact on the car.
Despite immense pressure from Coulthard, for over three quarters of the race, Whincup would hold on and move away in the final couple of laps.
It would be Whincup’s first win in 15 races in the championship and his 92nd overall in the sport.
He also reduced the gap, slightly, to Winterbottom in the championship.
Mostert would finish third, for his second podium of the day, and move past Lowndes in the standings for 2nd.
Despite an 8th place finish in Race 22, Winterbottom increased his lead to 267 points in the championship.
One race now remains until the Endurance Cup begins in Sandown.
With rain predicted to fall, in the 200km race tomorrow, everyone will be on edge to deliver a good result in the championship.
Don’t miss the action with the Roar providing a live blog of that race tomorrow.
Can Prodrive continue their amazing run in the V8 Supercars as the field head to Sydney Motorsport Park for the Sydney SuperSprint? Find out as The Roar live blogs qualifying and Races 21 and 22 of the championship from 11:30am AEST.
Since the start of Barbagallo, 14 races ago, Prodrive has dominated the V8 Supercars championship. They have won 12 of those races with Mark Winterbottom winning eight to take a 256 point championship lead into this weekend.
He has been joined by Chaz Mostert and David Reynolds who have won three races and one race respectively. The big question heading into this weekend is can they continue their form as the championship inches closer to the Endurance season?
After yesterday’s practice sessions, that looks likely to continue. Both Winterbottom and Mostert were in the top five in the final session, with Mostert fastest, and the only driver to get into the 1:29’s with a 1:29.9026.
That session was the quickest of the day with the other two slower as the track gripped up throughout the day.
The opening practice, which was just for co-drivers, was taken out by Dean Fiore for Nissan with a 1:31.5627.
In the following session, Volvo GRM took it, with David Wall quickest. He did a 1:30.5322 on a soft tyre and was one of only two drivers to use it.
While Mostert was once again quick in the final session, others also impressed. Tim Slade was second, Shane Van Gisbergen was third, with Nick Percat showing form again in Sydney with fourth for Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.
In contrast, Fabian Coulthard was 21st, Craig Lowndes was 19th, and Jamie Whincup was 13th as others struggled.
With one more practice session this morning we will get a better grasp of who is strong this weekend.
Like other recent weekends, in Queensland and Darwin, today’s racing will see the soft and hard tyre in use. Race 21 will be on the hard tyre and Race 22 will be on the soft.
Both races today will be 60 kilometres and 16 laps in duration. Once again it will all be about tyre preservation as teams only have 12 hard tyres and eight soft tyres for the weekend.
With plenty of teams near the top of the times, and just two tenths between the top four after the final practice session, it could be a good day of racing. There is also a chance of rain in Race 22 which could level the playing field even more.
Prodrive are the favourites and Winterbottom could put one hand on the title with another dominant weekend.
Sydney Motorsport Park can throw a surprise or two though, given the conditions and the circuit.
It promises to be an action packed day of racing and it will be blogged here on The Roar.
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