Today saw a tough day for TeamVodafone on the streets of Adelaide in the first 250km leg of the Clipsal 500, where a drive-through penalty and an extra pit stop created a more challenging race for the team.
Defending champion Jamie Whincup started from pole and showed great pace in his TeamVodafone Commodore to lead for three quarters of the 78-lap race. Whincup finished in fourth place, while team mate Craig Lowndes crossed the line in 19th.
While Lowndes was forced into the pits for an unscheduled fuel stop late in the race, Whincup opted to conserve fuel to avoid a similar situation to that of his team mate.
“My haircut certainly didn’t bring me any luck today,” Whincup said.
“We found ourselves really low on fuel towards the end of the race, so we took the smart option to finish fourth rather than making another stop like Craig.
“Overall it’s important to stay positive, we put up a great fight today and it is what you do on the tough days that helps build a strong team,” he added.
Craig Lowndes endured an eventful but challenging race with a drive-through penalty and a forced fourth pit stop costing him time and resulting in his lower than usual placing.
“It was a hard race today. We started out really cleanly which was great but discovered we had some car balance issues early on” Lowndes explained.
“I had an unfortunate coming-together with Will Davison which saw me penalised and then the extra stop certainly didn’t help my on-track position.
“Now that’s behind me I’m looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow and giving it another go” he said.
Race 6 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series (250km) gets underway at 2.35pm tomorrow (ACDT).
Top Ten Results V8 Supercar Championship Series Race 5 – Clipsal 500 Adelaide
1 Garth Tander, 150pts
2 James Courtney, 138pts
3 Lee Holdsworth, 129pts
4 Jamie Whincup, 120pts
5 Paul Dumbrell, 111pts
6 Jason Bright, 102pts
7 Fabian Coulthard, 96pts
8 Michael Caruso, 90pts
9 Will Davison, 84pts
10 Russell Ingall, 78pts
19 Craig Lowndes, 48pts
Top Ten Driver Standings 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series
1 Jamie Whincup, 720pts
2 Mark Winterbottom, 585pts
3 James Courtney, 558pts
4 Shane Van Gisbergen, 510pts
5 Lee Holdsworth, 501pts
6 Craig Lowndes, 495pts
7 Rick Kelly, 428pts
8 Michael Caruso, 384pts
9 Paul Dumbrell, 378pts
10 Steven Johnson, 365pts
