Jamie Whincup continued Red Bull Racing Australia’s fine form with the team’s second victory of the day in Race 32.
An investigation into a possible false start – which was quickly dismissed – proved Whincup’s only threat as he led all 14 laps on the way to a 1.3s victory.
Pole-sitter Scott McLaughlin finished second after being out-dragged to Turn 1 by his fellow front-row starter.
“It was all about getting off the line,” said Whincup.
“It was a good drag race with Scotty. I knew he was there, but you can’t see a thing so I just tipped it into Turn 1 and happy days. It’s win or bust really.”
“I need to work on those starts, I don’t care about second,” added a smiling McLaughlin.
“It’s one of those things. We’ll get there. It’s just good to have pace, us (top) three just walked away (from the field). It was fun.”
Craig Lowndes, Mark Winterbottom, David Reynolds, Scott Pye, Michael Caruso and Rick Kelly all held their grid positions across the race to finish third through eighth.
Shane van Gisbergen moved from 11th to ninth on the opening lap but could make no further progress in a processional race.
James Courtney rounded out the top 10 in the lead Walkinshaw Holden, with Brad Jones Racing team-mates Fabian Coulthard and Jason Bright just outside the top 10.
The results mean Winterbottom’s championship lead over Lowndes has been trimmed to 209 points, while Reynolds is now 277 adrift in third.
Red Bull meanwhile continues to close on Pepsi Max Crew PRA in the teams’ championship, trailing by 185 points ahead of Sunday’s 200km contest.
Result: V8 Supercars WD-40 Phillip Island Super Sprint Race 32
1 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 14 | 21:48.2038 |
2 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | Scott McLaughlin | Volvo S60 | 14 | 21:49.5019 |
3 | Red Bull Racing Australia | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 14 | 21:50.2854 |
4 | Pepsi Max Crew | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG/X | 14 | 21:56.7817 |
5 | The Bottle-O Racing Team | David Reynolds | Ford Falcon FG/X | 14 | 21:57.4235 |
6 | DJR Team Penske | Scott Pye | Ford Falcon FG/X | 14 | 21:58.0411 |
7 | Nissan Motorsport | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 14 | 21:58.8658 |
8 | Nissan Motorsport | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 14 | 21:59.1395 |
9 | Team Darrell Lea STIX | Shane Van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 14 | 21:59.8122 |
10 | Holden Racing Team | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 14 | 22:01.7238 |
11 | Freightliner Racing | Fabian Coulthard | Holden Commodore VF | 14 | 22:02.9612 |
12 | Team BOC | Jason Bright | Holden Commodore VF | 14 | 22:05.4306 |
13 | Holden Racing Team | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 14 | 22:06.1157 |
14 | Nissan Motorsport | James Moffat | Nissan Altima | 14 | 22:07.0845 |
15 | Pepsi Max Crew | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG/X | 14 | 22:07.8622 |
16 | Supercheap Auto Racing | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 14 | 22:10.1202 |
17 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Will Davison | Mercedes E63 AMG | 14 | 22:10.4828 |
18 | Walkinshaw Racing | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 14 | 22:10.9563 |
19 | Nissan Motorsport | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 14 | 22:11.1316 |
20 | GB Galvanizing Racing | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 14 | 22:12.0504 |
21 | Repair Management Aust Racing | Paul Dumbrell | Holden Commodore VF | 14 | 22:12.9433 |
22 | Team Cooldrive | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 14 | 22:13.7380 |
23 | Wilson Security Racing GRM | David Wall | Volvo S60 | 14 | 22:14.4155 |
24 | Super Black Racing | Chris Pither | Ford Falcon FG/X | 14 | 22:16.1437 |
25 | Erebus Motorsport V8 | Dean Canto | Mercedes E63 AMG | 14 | 22:16.5985 |
Championship Standings
1 | Mark Winterbottom | 2887 |
2 | Craig Lowndes | 2678 |
3 | David Reynolds | 2610 |
4 | Garth Tander | 2375 |
5 | Shane van Gisbergen | 2371 |
6 | Fabian Coulthard | 2322 |
7 | Jamie Whincup | 2230 |
8 | Chaz Mostert | 2017 |
9 | Scott McLaughlin | 1919 |
10 | James Courtney | 1880 |
11 | Rick Kelly | 1830 |
12 | Michael Caruso | 1705 |
13 | Tim Slade | 1637 |
14 | Lee Holdsworth | 1539 |
15 | Jason Bright | 1508 |
16 | Will Davison | 1483 |
17 | James Moffat | 1480 |
18 | Todd Kelly | 1423 |
19 | Scott Pye | 1372 |
20 | Nick Percat | 1204 |
21 | Dale Wood | 1186 |
22 | Tim Blanchard | 1116 |
23 | Andre Heimgartner | 1068 |
24 | David Wall | 956 |
25 | Ash Walsh | 769 |
26 | Warren Luff | 747 |
27 | Jonathon Webb | 699 |
28 | Jack Perkins | 693 |
29 | Steve Owen | 684 |
30 | Dean Canto | 682 |
31 | Steven Richards | 681 |
32 | Cameron Waters | 550 |
33 | Luke Youlden | 516 |
34 | David Russell | 492 |
35 | Alex Premat | 492 |
36 | Tony D’Alberto | 462 |
37 | Sebastien Bourdais | 423 |
38 | Taz Douglas | 416 |
39 | Russell Ingall | 414 |
40 | Dean Fiore | 399 |
41 | Marcos Ambrose | 395 |
42 | Andrew Jones | 345 |
43 | Macauley Jones | 327 |
44 | Alex Davison | 327 |
45 | Paul Dumbrell | 326 |
46 | Karl Reindler | 288 |
47 | Alex Buncombe | 276 |
48 | Oliver Gavin | 258 |
49 | Ant Pedersen | 185 |
50 | Chris Pither | 173 |
51 | Jack Le Brocq | 144 |
52 | Aaren Russell | 108 |
53 | Drew Russell | 108 |
54 | Simona de Silvestro | 84 |
55 | Renee Gracie | 84 |