Newsroom
WHINCUP CHARGES FOR THE YOUNG GUNS IN ADELAIDE
Sunday, 26 March 2006
The opening round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series proved a Triple Eight treat on the streets of Adelaide today in front of an event record crowd of 270,300 people.
The 23-year-old Jamie Whincup, in his first drive for Team Betta Electrical that is powered by Triple Eight Race Engineering, survived a wild second 250km race to claim the honours at the Clipsal 500 today.
This follows the effort of his team-mate and series favourite Craig Lowndes who won the opening race on Saturday.
Whincup took out overall honours for the event after finishing third in Saturday’s first 250km race.
The Kelly brothers followed him home today with Todd Kelly (Holden Racing Team) second and Rick Kelly (Toll HSV Holden) third.
Their placings were reversed for meeting points with Rick second after his runner-up effort on Saturday and Todd third after placing sixth in the first race.
There was real controversy from the start with Rick Kelly given a drive through penalty for allegedly jumping the start. The Holden driver produced a stunning drive from the back of the field to finish third today and second overall.
Whincup’s team owner and former Formula One driver Derek Warwick was impressed with the new driver.
“It was a fabulous drive for a young kid. He’s just 23 years old and a great driver for the future.”
Whincup praised his team.
“The car was unbelievable. We were able to pit early and my team did a great job to get me out in front. From there I just drove the arse off it,” he said.
It was a race full of incidents and carnage with several teams facing a busy week to have their cars ready for non-points round at the Australian Grand Prix.
It was a disaster for the Supercheap Auto Racing team with both Cameron McConville and Greg Murphy out with substantially damaged cars.
Top qualifier Mark Skaife (Holden Racing Team) had a second major accident in two days, while newcomer James Courtney (Stone Brothers Racing) also face a second major rebuild.
The crews of Skaife and Courtney worked through the night to repair their cars from major damage incurred in Saturday’s first race.
Courtney, McConville and race one winner Craig Lowndes were caught out as innocent victims of a crash ahead of them on lap 51 of 78, while Murphy hit the wall at the infamous turn eight after attempting a passing manoeuvre and Skaife was caught behind him.
Skaife said while it was a difficult weekend for him, he was delighted for Kelly.
“It was great to see Todd going so well. He had good speed all weekend. It was a case of being in the wrong spot at the wrong time for me which was a shame because my team did a great job to get me racing. We got from the back to the front and I would rate that among the top three or four drives of my career.’’
The big moves came from Jason Richards (Tasman Motorsport) who came from 30th to finish 10th, Jason Bargwanna (WPS Racing) from 27th to 11th and Paul Radisich (Team Kiwi Racing) 23rd to 12th.
The non-championship round takes place next weekend at the Melbourne Grand Prix with the next points round at the PlaceMakers V8 International in New Zealand on 21-23 April.
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The 23-year-old Jamie Whincup, in his first drive for Team Betta Electrical that is powered by Triple Eight Race Engineering, survived a wild second 250km race to claim the honours at the Clipsal 500 today.
This follows the effort of his team-mate and series favourite Craig Lowndes who won the opening race on Saturday.
Whincup took out overall honours for the event after finishing third in Saturday’s first 250km race.
The Kelly brothers followed him home today with Todd Kelly (Holden Racing Team) second and Rick Kelly (Toll HSV Holden) third.
Their placings were reversed for meeting points with Rick second after his runner-up effort on Saturday and Todd third after placing sixth in the first race.
There was real controversy from the start with Rick Kelly given a drive through penalty for allegedly jumping the start. The Holden driver produced a stunning drive from the back of the field to finish third today and second overall.
Whincup’s team owner and former Formula One driver Derek Warwick was impressed with the new driver.
“It was a fabulous drive for a young kid. He’s just 23 years old and a great driver for the future.”
Whincup praised his team.
“The car was unbelievable. We were able to pit early and my team did a great job to get me out in front. From there I just drove the arse off it,” he said.
It was a race full of incidents and carnage with several teams facing a busy week to have their cars ready for non-points round at the Australian Grand Prix.
It was a disaster for the Supercheap Auto Racing team with both Cameron McConville and Greg Murphy out with substantially damaged cars.
Top qualifier Mark Skaife (Holden Racing Team) had a second major accident in two days, while newcomer James Courtney (Stone Brothers Racing) also face a second major rebuild.
The crews of Skaife and Courtney worked through the night to repair their cars from major damage incurred in Saturday’s first race.
Courtney, McConville and race one winner Craig Lowndes were caught out as innocent victims of a crash ahead of them on lap 51 of 78, while Murphy hit the wall at the infamous turn eight after attempting a passing manoeuvre and Skaife was caught behind him.
Skaife said while it was a difficult weekend for him, he was delighted for Kelly.
“It was great to see Todd going so well. He had good speed all weekend. It was a case of being in the wrong spot at the wrong time for me which was a shame because my team did a great job to get me racing. We got from the back to the front and I would rate that among the top three or four drives of my career.’’
The big moves came from Jason Richards (Tasman Motorsport) who came from 30th to finish 10th, Jason Bargwanna (WPS Racing) from 27th to 11th and Paul Radisich (Team Kiwi Racing) 23rd to 12th.
The non-championship round takes place next weekend at the Melbourne Grand Prix with the next points round at the PlaceMakers V8 International in New Zealand on 21-23 April.
Back | Back to top
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