Whincup completes Symmons weekend double

Jamie Whincup has defeated a trio of Ford Performance Racing Falcons to take victory in Race 24 of the V8 Supercars Championship at the Falken Tasmania Challenge.

Having run behind front-row starters Paul Dumbrell and Mark Winterbottom throughout the opening stint, Whincup took the lead at the first round of pitstops and was not headed for the duration.

The win is the 51st of Whincup’s career, moving the 28-year-old into a clear third place on the all-time winners list, and is the 400th win for a Holden driver.

Will Davison made it past his FPR stablemates to record second place – 1.72s adrift of Whincup at the conclusion of a Safety Car-free 84 laps.

Winterbottom, Dumbrell, Craig Lowndes, Garth Tander, Shane van Gisbergen, Todd Kelly, Jonathon Webb and Fabian Coulthard rounded out the top 10.

Cameron McConville, a last-minute replacement for an Jason Bright in the Team BOC Commodore, finished an impressive 19th, having briefly led the race by completing a long first sint.

The battle between Dumbrell and Winterbottom raged for the entire first stint, before the pair made nose-to-tail contact as they pitted together on Lap 21.

While Dumbrell kept his position in the pitstop itself, the 30-year-old overshot the pit exit – narrowly avoiding more contact with Winterbottom as he returned to the track.

Whincup and Davison, who had both made their first stops a lap earlier, swept to the front of the pack as the drama unfolded.

Dumbrell briefly re-passed Winterbottom a lap later with a drive-bomb move at the hairpin, but lost time on the exit and could not challenge the Orrcon Falcon for the remainder of the race.

Whincup slowly built his lead over Davison during the second stint, with the advantage over 4.0s when the Trading Post Falcon returned to the lane on Lap 49.

Whincup made his final stop three laps later – rejoining less than a second ahead of his rival after losing time in traffic and surviving a major sideways moment heading onto the pitstraight.

The two-time champion controlled the gap in the closing stages to win by less than 2.0s.

All 28 cars finished the race, with Warren Luff classified in last place having lost multiple laps in the pits with brake fluid issues.

Whincup now leads team-mate Lowndes by 194 points with just four races remaining.

See below for the full race result

See below for the updated championship points