After an eventful start to the V8 Supercar endurance calendar, Red Bull Racing have come through to finish 1-2 at the Sandown 500. 

 

Whincup and Dumbrell celebrating their win. Picture: Getty Images/Adelaide Now

 

Red Bull Racing pair Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell have taken the first endurance win for the season, alongside their teammates Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff. 

 

A win that looked doubtful from the halfway mark after receiving a penalty from spinning the wheels in pitlane, the Whincup/Dumbrell duo fell back to 25th, but were able to claw their way back to first.

 

Teammates Lowndes/Luff were looking strong for the win, but their tyres were fading away allowing the Whincup/Dumbrell duo to make the overtake for the win with 10 laps to go.

 

Lowndes/Luff finished in front of the Ford Performance Racing pair of Will Davison and Steve Owen, despite having fluid leaking from the transaxle of their Falcon.

 

Ford Performance Racing were looking strong for the win after putting the Davison/Owen car on pole on Saturday, but were held up in pit lane after the other Falcon of Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards were re-fuelling.

 

Winterbottom and Richards had hold of the race lead in front of the Red Bull Racing team, until a slow wheel change put the Ford team back in last place.

 

Erebus Motorsport pair Lee Holdsworth and Craig Baird drove the Mercedes AMG to their career best position since entering the category, finishing in fourth place. 

 

James Courtney and Greg Murphy worked a hard-fought battle to finish in fifth, after receiving two black flags at the start of the race due to loose body work.

 

Winterbottom and Richards managed to climb their way back to sixth place after their pit lane drama.

 

Ashley Walsh caused the first safety car on Lap 35, spearing into the fence at high speeds from the back straight, walking away with no injuries.

 

eKol Racing pair Scott Pye and Paul Morris also did not finish the 500km race, suffering from broken steering. 

 

Whincup now leads the V8 Supercar championship by 96 points, second is teammate Lowndes, with Ford Performance Racing’s Davison third and Winterbottom fourth.

 

The next round of the championship will be at Bathurst for the Supercheap 1000 10-13 October.

 

Race results for Sandown 500

1	J.Whincup/P.Dumbrell	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:22:54.62
2	C.Lowndes/W.Luff	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:02.81
3	W.Davison/S.Owen	Ford Falcon FG	161	03:23:12.56
4	L.Holdsworth/C.Baird	Mercedes E63 AMG	161	03:23:13.53
5	J.Courtney/G.Murphy	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:20.77
6	M.Winterbottom/S.Richards	Ford Falcon FG	161	03:23:21.14
7	F.Coulthard/L.Youlden	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:25.87
8	S.McLaughlin/J.Perkins	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:27.93
9	R.Ingall/R.Briscoe	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:33.15
10	A.Premat/G.Ritter	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:44.50
11	T.Kelly/D.Russell	Nissan Altima	161	03:23:46.43
12	S.Van Gisbergen/J.Bleekemolen	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:54.26
13	J.Webb/M.Lieb	Holden Commodore VF	161	03:23:55.18
14	C.Mostert/D.Wood	Ford Falcon FG	161	03:24:04.30
15	A.Davison/J.McIntyre	Ford Falcon FG	160	03:22:56.45
16	R.Kelly/K.Reindler	Nissan Altima	160	03:23:03.85
17	D.Reynolds/D.Canto	Ford Falcon FG	160	03:23:03.97
18	D.Fiore/M.Halliday	Holden Commodore VF	160	03:23:06.06
19	D.Wall/C.Pither	Holden Commodore VF	160	03:23:07.02
20	M.Caruso/D.Gaunt	Nissan Altima	160	03:23:10.18
21	T.Slade/A.Thompson	Mercedes E63 AMG	159	03:23:17.33
22	G.Tander/N.Percat	Holden Commodore VF	152	03:23:33.77
23	T.D’Alberto/J.Reid	Holden Commodore VF	152	03:23:58.16
24	J.Bright/A.Jones	Holden Commodore VF	147	03:23:19.98
25	M.Engel/S.Johnson	Mercedes E63 AMG	143	03:23:37.57
26	J.Moffat/T.Douglas	Nissan Altima	123	03:23:17.08
DNF	S.Pye/P.Morris	Holden Commodore VF	135	02:56:03.57
DNF	Ashley Walsh	Ford Falcon FG	33	42:25.70

 

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