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For the first time in 18 months, V8 Supercar racing’s dominant driver Jamie Whincup has lost control of the championship.
Defending two-time champion Whincup gave up the series lead for the first time since Bathurst 2008 after he crashed out of Sunday’s race at Winton, while Ford rival James Courtney leapfrogged him to take the championship lead.
Courtney made it a perfect weekend with two race wins – both achieved with a neat blend of speed and patience to serve notice the 29-year-old’s first V8 championship is within reach.
The Jim Beam Racing driver now holds a 114-point series lead over Whincup.
Whincup’s race chase came to a nightmarish end as he was punted off the track in an incident with Ford driver Jonathon Webb – Courtney’s teammate – on lap 45.
His Holden was bogged in a sand trap and left with broken steering, though his Team Vodafone managed to fix the problem and he completed the race in 24th position to pick up a handful of points.
Courtney would now appear the man to catch – having seemingly found Whincup’s zone with one of his finest race drives in Sunday’s 64-lap time-shortened event to post his fourth successive victory.
He was even smart enough to redress on-track a risky late-race move which threatened to bring him unstuck in the stewards’ room as he diced with Holden rival Craig Lowndes for the lead.
The two cars came together on lap 53, with Lowndes being nudged off the course.
But Courtney allowed him to re-take the lead, then sat back and bided his time.
He eventually found the legal gap he needed to pass Lowndes four laps later and went on to win comfortably.
“I was trying to tell myself second was good enough, but there’s a crazy will-to-win inside me and I thought I may need the few extra points later in the year,” Courtney said.
“I waited until the time was right, calmed down a bit and did it right in the end.
“It’s fantastic to take this lead and the last four race wins into a four-week break.
“Momentum’s a beautiful thing, and there’s no reason we can’t continue to feature in the front in the championship.”
Lowndes has moved to third place in the championship, closing the gap on Whincup to 108 points.
The trio have set up a thrilling next round in Darwin from June 18 to 20 as part of a championship chase which looks set to go down to the wire.
Earlier Holden driver Rick Kelly had clocked the fastest lap ever around the north-east Victorian track during Sunday morning qualifying.
His one minute, 21.849 second lap lowered the mark set by Courtney during Saturday qualifying.
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