Holden star Jamie Whincup won a thrilling 300km V8 Supercar race at the Gold Coast on Sunday.
The TeamVodafone ace held off fast-finishing New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen in the closing laps of the 102-lap race on the streets of Surfers Paradise to cut James Courtney’s lead in the championship series to 71 points.
Pole-sitter Mark Winterbottom came in third for Ford Performance Racing with Courtney a close fourth.
Whincup’s battle with Van Gisbergen was a thrilling finish to a race which featured several accidents and more than 10 cars failing to cross the finish line.
The first major incident happened in lap four when a coming together between the Irwin Falcon driven by David Brabham and Holden’s Cameron McConville, sent Brabham’s car plowing into a wall.
From there the race descended into short bursts of racing punctuated by a series of crashes.
New Zealand IndyCar star Scott Dixon drove straight into the rear of Andrew Jones’ Team BOC Commodore as the Holden driver slowed drastically down the main straight, the crash sending wheels from both vehicles rolling down the track.
Six laps later IndyCar driver Helio Castroneves and Steven Johnson brought the safety car out again and made it nine retirements before the race was even halfway completed.
Things did settle down after that point, although Saturday’s race winner Garth Tander crashed out in the 59th lap when he hit the wall on turn one trying to avoid cars rejoining the track from pitlane.
From their Whincup, Winterbottom, Van Gisbergen and Courtney emerged in a four-car front pack for the edge-of-your-seat charge to the line.
Whincup and Courtney will resume their championship hostilities at Symmons Plains in Tasmania from November 12 to 14.
Meanwhile, international stars, sunny skies, plenty of fans and no shortage of drama – the revamped Gold Coast V8 Supercars weekend has proven to be a smash hit.
Sunday’s crowd of 58,977 took the spectator total for the three day event at Surfers Paradise to 170,073, down on the peak years when the American Indy Racing Series visited but still a number to please organisers.
V8 Supercars chief executive Martin Whitaker said the revamped event, which was created in the wake of last year’s disastrous no-show by the now-defunct A1 GP series, had truly ticked all the boxes.
“It’s just been a stunning weekend, really good crowds, the concerts have been fantastic, everything on track’s just been remarkable,” Whitaker told AAP on Sunday.
“I think we’ve had a bit of everything that we’ve expected. Loads of high drama, loads of incidents but at the same time some great racing and some really, really good TV.
“I think the crowds have had a real experience here. We’re in the entertainment business, I think there’s no shadow of a doubt this has been a really entertaining weekend for everybody, blessed by the fact that we’ve had wonderful weather.”
Last year’s no-show on the Gold Coast by the A1 GP series is estimated to have cost Queensland taxpayers millions of dollars and this year’s event has received $6.5 million in funds from the state government – almost half the budget of last year.
To retain an international flavour, 18 overseas-based drivers were recruited to pair up with regular V8 drivers for the weekend and Whitaker says the collection of former Formula One, IndyCar, World and European Touring Car stars had been a key component to the weekend’s success.
“Haven’t they been good? There’s various degrees of interest in whether you have 29, 18, or something in between,” Whitaker said.
“The very fact of the matter is we know already that we would easily have been able to get more than 18 because they all talk to themselves, they all say ‘hey, sounds like a really good weekend’.
“Every single one of them has been a fantastic ambassador, not just for their own sport, for themselves, but more importantly also for our sport.
“They’ve all done exactly what we asked them to do, they’ve all done it willingly and they’re all having a great time here.”
V8 Supercars has a four-year deal with the Queensland Government to run an event on the Gold Coast and Premier Anna Bligh has already stated the contract will be reviewed after the 2011 weekend.
But Whitaker was hopeful those government officials who had attended this weekend’s races will be impressed.
“I think they’re absolutely delighted with the way it’s gone,” he said.
“It’s justified the decision of V8 Supercars to take on the ownership and promotion of the event. Everyone’s worked really hard to put this event together and I think the place looks magnificent.”
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