Faultless Whincup enters the record books

Jamie Whincup produced a faultless drive to claim Race 18 and assume the record of most race wins in Supercars/Australian Touring Car Championship history.

The six-time champion made the most of a slick strategy from his Red Bull team to score a relatively comfortable 106th career Supercars race win to overtake team-mate Craig Lowndes in the record books.

Whincup pitted early shortly before a brief Safety Car period but it was a strong second stint on fresh rubber that saw him move to the lead, with 10 laps to go when van Gisbergen surrendered the lead.

The 34-year-old took the flag by 9.8 seconds from Fabian Coulthard (DJR Team Penske), who utilised his seven-lap tyre advantage to pass van Gisbergen for second with two laps remaining.

Van Gisbergen just held off a charging polesitter Scott McLaughlin (DJR Team Penske) and Prodrive’s Chaz Mostert for the final podium spot.

Whincup’s victory has seen him close to within 12 points of the championship leader McLaughlin.

Mostert made the most of the start to leap into the lead on the run to Turn 1 while polesitter McLaughlin, for the second race in succession, was swamped.

McLaughlin dropped to fifth as Mostert stormed into the lead from Whincup, van Gisbergen and Coulthard.

Mostert quickly galloped into a 1.2 second lead but his advantage soon came under threat from Whincup once he found his rhythm.

Will Davison was the first to pit and he was followed by fifth placed McLaughlin and second-placed Whincup.

However, the race was soon neutralised when Rick Kelly (Nissan Motorsport) suffered massive right rear tyre failure on the start/finish straight spraying debris all over the track.

The lap 12 Safety Car period prompted a flurry of action in the pits with the top 18 all entering the lane.

Van Gisbergen elected for a longer fuel stop along with Brad Jones Racing’s Nick Percat which saw the pair join in fourth and seventh respectively.

Having already pitted, Whincup inherited the lead from Mostert and McLaughlin, while Coulthard filed back into fifth ahead of Mark Winterbottom and Percat.

In clean air, Whincup managed to open up a seven second lead as he looked to establish a 10 second advantage required to regain the lead after the second round of stops.

Meanwhile, van Gisbergen reeled in and passed McLaughlin for third at Turn 5 before the pair dived into the pits for their second stop.

Requiring less fuel than his rival, the reigning champion emerged from the pits comfortably ahead.

Race leader Whincup, who built up a 9.8s margin over Mostert, responded two laps later by taking on four new tyres.

He initially rejoined ahead of van Gisbergen before the latter shot down the inside of his team-mate for the lead at Turn 2.

New leader Mostert built up a 37s gap over van Gisbergen before choosing to make his second stop along with second-placed Coulthard.

Coulthard jumped Mostert in the stops as the pair slotted into an effective fourth and fifth positions.

At the front, leader van Gisbergen had his mirrors full of Whincup while McLaughlin was 2.5s adrift with 15 laps remaining.

Armed with fresher rubber, Whincup assumed the lead as van Gisbergen allowed his opposite number through.

This gave Whincup the chance to bolt into healthy lead while the battle for second between van Gisbergen, McLaughlin and Coulthard raged.

The two DJRTP Falcon had tyres seven laps fresher than the Red Bull Holden and eventually it told as Coulthard assumed second after passing McLaughlin, who fell shy of third.

Percat came through to finish sixth ahead of a second consecutive top 10 for Michael Caruso (Nissan Motorsport).

Prodrive’s Jason Bright scored his best result since Race 5 at Phillip Island in eighth, while the top 10 was rounded out by Reynolds, who recovered from an early puncture and Nissan Motorsport’s Todd Kelly.

Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport’s Alex Rullo and Cameron Waters retired after an incident at Turn 4 midway through the race.

Results: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship Red Rooster Sydney Super Sprint Race 18

Championship Standings