Race Log – Race 25 – Sydney Olympic Park

As a part of Speedcafe.com.au’s V8 Supercar news service, live V8 Supercar race updates are posted on Speedcafe’s twitter account (CLICK HERE to view).

The below Race Log collates the twitter updates in order to provide a comprehensive summary of the action.

The Race Log will be a permanent feature of Speedcafe.com.au in 2011.

Race Log – Race 25 – Sydney Olympic Park Street Circuit – 04/12/10

Cars on the warmup lap for Race 25. 74 laps, 250km. Holdsworth on pole from Winterbottom and Whincup. Points leader Courtney in 6th.

Bright starting from pitlane after qualifying drama. Trading Post team confident about their speed and strategy.

Lap 1 – D’Alberto in Turn 1 tyre wall. Holdsworth leads Winterbottom, Whincup, Caruso and Slade.

Lap 3 – Whincup passes Winterbottom for second into Turn 2. HRT cars also making progress, W. Davison 15th, Tander 18th.

Lap 4 – Whincup 0.8s faster than Holdsworth on Lap 3 – despite passing Winterbottom on that lap! Now pressuring the #33 for the lead.

Lap 5 – Steven Richards returning to the track after pitting on Lap 1 with damage. Pitlane starters Bright and Dumbrell now 23rd and 25th.

Lap 6 – SAFETY CAR. Karl Reindler into the wall at exit of Turn 13. Left front steering broken from earlier contact with Turn 11 exit wall.

Lap 7 – Ingall, Murphy, Lowndes, Coulthard, W. Davison, Bargwanna, Johnson, Webb, Fiore, Dumbrell, Luff and Thompson pit. Contact between Coulthard and Davison.

W. Davison released into the path of Coulthard. Resulting contact sees Coulthard sent briefly skyward. Both cars continue.

Lap 8 – D’Alberto, Ricciardello and Dumbrell pit. Jones has also pitted, back on Lap 5.

Lap 9 – RESTART ORDER: Holdsworth, Whincup, Caruso, Slade, Courtney, T. Kelly, A. Davison, S. van Gisbergen, R. Kelly.

Whincup takes the lead from Holdsworth at Turn 11 after an earlier attempt at Turn 9 failed to come off.

Lap 11 – Slade loses places to Courtney and T. Kelly after attempting a pass on Caruso at Turn 9. W. Davison pit penalty for Coulthard incident.

Lap 12 – Slade spins from 7th back to 26th at Turn 1. A. Davison now up to 7th, from Tander, R. Kelly and van Gisbergen.

Lap 13 – Ingall is the first to have pitted in 11th place, ahead of Lowndes (13th), Coulthard (14th), Johnson (15th) and Bargwanna (16th).

Lap 14 – Courtney pressuring Caruso for 4th and is 6.4s behind Whincup, who in turn leads Holdsworth by 2.1s. Winterbottom is a further 1.5s behind Holdsworth.

Lap 17 – D’Alberto runs into the back of Luff at Turn 2. Both cars make contact with the outside wall. SAFETY CAR

Whincup, Holdsworth, Winterbottom, T. Kelly, Tander, R. Kelly, Bargwanna, Webb and Slade pit. Holdsworth loses positions to Winterbottom and T. Kelly.

Bargwanna and Webb have now pitted twice, while race leaders Caruso, Courtney, A. Davison and van Gisbergen are yet to pit.

Lap 20 – RESTART ORDER: Caruso, Courtney, A. Davison, van Gisbergen, Ingall, Bright, Lowndes, Coulthard, Johnson, Murphy.

Caruso brakes too late into Turn 1, runs wide and drops from 1st to 6th. Lowndes loses 7th to Coulthard. Murphy passes Johnson for 9th.

Lap 21 – Early leaders Whincup, Winterbottom and Holdsworth are now running 15th, 17th and 19th respectively after pitting.

Lap 22 – Whincup squeezes past Johnson at Turn 9. Drivers reporting light rain. Penalty for D’Alberto over earlier incident with Luff.

Lap 23 – Whincup passes Fiore for 13th at Turn 9. Courtney leads A. Davison by 1.8s, with van Gisbergen, Ingall, Caruso and Bright still chasing.

Lap 24 – Winterbottom also passes Fiore and is now 14th, while Holdsworth is stuck in 18th behind Johnson. Whincup sets fastest lap of race

Lap 25 – Whincup through on W. Davison for 12th. van Gisbergen pits from 3rd.

Lap 26 – Tander spins Thompson at Turn 1 while battling for 20th. A. Davison pits from 2nd, Lowndes pits from 6th.

Lap 27 – Courtney pits from 1st. Tander given penalty for Thompson incident and serves it immediately. Caruso pits from 4th.

Lap 28 – Tander passes Courtney at Turn 1 after exiting pits. Ingall now leads from Bright, Murphy, Whincup, Coulthard, A. Jones, Winterbottom and Dumbrell.

Lap 29 – W. Davison and Coulthard pit.

Lap 30 – Bright and Murphy pit from 2nd and 4th.

Lap 31 – Johnson pits. Whincup sets fastest lap of race and is now less that 8s from leader Ingall.

Lap 32 – Ingall pits from the lead, A. Jones pits from third. RACE ORDER: Whincup, Winterbottom, Dumbrell, T. Kelly and Holdsworth.

Lap 33 – R. Kelly, Fiore and Thompson pits from 9th, 10th and 11th. Winterbottom is 4.2s behind leader Whincup.

Lap 34 – Fiore in the tyre wall at Turn 11. SAFETY CAR: Dumbrell, T. Kelly, Holdsworth, Webb, Tander, van Gisbergen pit.

Lap 35 – Whincup, Winterbottom, Bargwanna and Slade pit. Courtney leads.

RESTART ORDER: Courtney, A. Davison, Whincup, Lowndes, Winterbottom, Ingall, Bright, Coulthard, Murphy, W. Davison.

Whincup passes A. Davison into Turn 2. Courtney and Davison may or may not be able to make it to the end on just one more stop.

Murphy passes Coulthard for 8th into Turn 9.

Lap 41 – Courtney leads by 1.4s from Whincup – gap is stagnant. Slade pits after touching the wall at Turn 5 while side-by-side with van Gisbergen.

Lap 43 – A. Davison hanging onto 3rd from Lowndes and Winterbottom. Whincup now 2s behind Courtney.

Lap 44 – Light rain falling. Turns 2/3/4 and 5 are visibly slippery. Whincup catching Courtney.

Lap 47 – A. Davison drops from 3rd to 5th. Whincup takes the lead at Turn 5 after Courtney was slow out of 4.

Whincup down the escape road at Turn 9. Rejoins in 2nd, 2.5s behind.

Lap 48 – Murphy passes A. Davison for 5th. Track conditions appear to be improving.

Lap 50 – Ingall passes A. Davison for 6th. Courtney leads Whincup by 1.2s. van Gisbergen up to 10th. Murphy passes Lowndes for 4th

Lap 51 – A. Davison and Tander pit.

Lap 52 – Lowndes, Dumbrell and R. Kelly pit. Whincup pressuring Courtney again for the lead.

Lap 53 – Courtney pits. Whincup leads by 7.2s from Winterbottom. Murphy third, from Ingall, Bright, W. Davison, van Gisbergen, Johnson and Holdsworth.

Vision shows Dumbrell and R. Kelly making minor contact in pitlane.

Lap 54 – Murphy pits from 3rd. W. Davison pits from 6th. Caruso pits from 11th. R. Kelly gets penalty for Dumbrell contact.

Lap 55 – More rain on the way. van Gisbergen up to 5th. Caruso spins at the exit of Turn 7.

Lap 56 – Whincup pits for fuel and slick tyres. Winterbottom leads Ingall, and Bright. Johnson, Holdsworth and Thompson pit. Johnson on wets.

Ingall into the wall at Turn 8. SAFETY CAR.

Lap 57 – Winterbottom, T. Kelly, Webb, pit. Whincup rejoined ahead of Courtney after his last stop.

Lap 58 – Bright and van Gisbergen also pit. Smoke trailing from Murphy’s Commodore. #51 pits. Johnson pits again and returns to slicks.

Bargwanna pits for wets, but is a lap down.

Replays show Slade and Murphy both hit the wall at the exit of Turn 7.

Lap 60 – RESTART ORDER: Whincup, Winterbottom, Courtney, T. Kelly, van Gisbergen, Bright, Lowndes, W. Davison.

Bright and Dumbrell (a lap down) pit for wets. Winterbottom takes lead by cutting Turn 2. Carnage at Turn 5. Winterbottom, Courtney and Whincup all hit the wall.

SAFETY CAR. Whincup, Lowndes, Courtney, van Gisbergen among those pitting with big damage.

Thompson, Caruso, T. Kelly, W. Davison, Winterbottom also pit. A. Davison stranded on circuit.

Lap 62 – RACE ORDER: Webb, Bright, Johnson, Coulthard, R. Kelly, Holdsworth, Thompson, Caruso.

FPR, Triple 8 and DJR all scrambling to fix their cars in order to score points.

Lap 64 – RESTART

Holdsworth down the escape road at Turn 9. Bargwanna is a lap down, but pressuring race leader Webb.

Three minutes of racing remain – DJR, FPR and Triple 8 still repairing their cars.

Lap 68 – Courtney rejoins. Webb leads by 2.3s from Bright.

Jonathan Webb wins from Bright, R. Kelly, Johnson, Coulthard, Caruso, Holdsworth, Thompson, Bargwanna and Dumbrell.

Whincup rejoined on the final lap to take 16th – one position behind Courtney. Winterbottom records a DNF.

Courtney’s championship lead now stands at 56 points – 3 more than it was 250km ago!

Whincup will be classified as a DNF under Rule D13.2.2 in the V8SC Operations Manual – his last lap exceeded the max time allowed.

Courtney’s points lead now out to 113 points over Whincup. DJR driver needs only a 22nd place finish – even if Whincup wins – to take the title tomorrow.