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Sunday’s V8 Supercar race in Townsville was supposed to throw up a surprise. A quirk over how drivers could use the softer compound sprint tyres had pit lane buzzing about unpredictable racing and some eyebrow-raising results.
In the end it made no difference as TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup streaked to victory on the Reid Park street circuit followed by team-mate and nearest championship rival Craig Lowndes.
The rules on soft tyres, which provide added grip but have a limited life, call for teams to use one set in each 200km race.
Nothing prevents a team from carrying over Saturday’s set into Sunday’s race.
Several drivers, such as defending champion James Courtney, barely used their softs in disappointing runs in Saturday’s 200km race and they had two near-new sets on Sunday.
It meant frontrunners such as Whincup and polesitter Lowndes should have been sitting ducks as unheralded drivers blew past on grippier rubber.
It didn’t happen, although Courtney made an early charge from 12th before a drive-through penalty forced him to settle for 19th place.
Whincup’s sixth victory of the year put him on 1683 championship points, 186 ahead of Lowndes, with New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen back in third on 1317.
Not that he felt the day was anything like an easy run after starting eighth on the grid.
“This weekend by no means went our way,” the two-time champion said.
“We had some tough battles to overcome over the course of the whole weekend.
“But, like yesterday, the quickest car won.”
Lowndes anticipated future battles with his team-mate as they are in direct competition for the title for the first time.
“Roland’s (Dane, team principal) always said he wants us to race regardless,” the veteran said.
“No doubt the fans do to.
“We’ll battle it out until the chequered flag but the one thing we won’t do is stick ourselves in the gravel traps.”
Ford’s Mark Winterbottom finished a distant third on Sunday and admits his team has some ground to make up if they’re to break the TeamVodafone duopoly.
“The guys are working hard, we’ve got smart people, they’ll sort it out,” the Ford Performance Racing driver said.
“We just can’t let too many rounds slip because in the points we’ve already copped a battering and we need to get on it.”
As Courtney’s struggles continued, it was also a dark day for Holden Racing Team stablemate Garth Tander after the highs of Saturday’s race win.
The 34-year-old had to limp home in 26th position after a broken rear suspension forced him to make a lengthy visit to the garage.
The next round of the V8 championship is the Ipswich 300 at Queensland Raceway on August 19-21.
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