Simmering tension between long-time rivals Jamie Whincup and Mark Winterbottom stepped up a notch today and could explode at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 later this month.
Winterbottom sparked a calculated yet terse response from Whincup with a bullish pass in the closing laps of the Dick Smith Sandown 500, won by TeamVodafone’s Craig Lowndes and Warren Luff, in a final fight for second place, taken at that moment by the Orccon Steel FPR pilot.
After years of intense rivalry dating right back to their karting days when both were emerging guns, the mood was tense post-race today after a 161 lap dogfight between the two class V8 Supercar teams, one Holden and one Ford.
The ultimate Championship picture played out some more with Whincup extending his lead over Winterbottom to a skinny 32 points and Lowndes continually moving into the frame by overtaking Will Davison, who had a trouble plagued weekend to finish 17th.
The closing drama took away somewhat from Lowndes’ win and the effort of all three co-drivers – Luff (Lowndes), Steven Richards (Winterbottom) and Paul Dumbrell (Whincup) – who set the stage for the Championship contenders to fight it out.
Winterbottom remained defiant in taking the pass while Whincup was quick to diffuse any drama. But it was painfully evident Whincup was not happy when he stepped out of the car.
“I’d be lying if I said that pass was on at the end, it was a late lunge,” Whincup said.
“I congratulated Frosty after the race but I didn’t think that pass was on. At the end of the day it’s not a huge deal because my car wasn’t fast enough to win the race. But that’s just my opinion.”
Winterbottom countered with a differing view.
“Sometimes you are on the end of it and sometimes you are the guy who does the pass. No doubt if I was in the same position Jamie would have done the same to me. I feel good,” said Winterbottom.
“The only place I had a really good run was at turn six. I braked deep in there, made it stick and got P2. I was really happy with the result.”
The critical move gave Lowndes his fifth Sandown 500 triumph in eleven starts and his eighth ‘500-km endurance race win, when you include races held at Queensland Raceway and Phillip Island.
“It was one of those things that late in the first set of tyres I faded away a bit. I had too much understeer and killed the rears trying to look after the front,” Lowndes said.
“We worked on the car and tried to chase it and I was surprised when we came out so far behind Jamie at the beginning of the final stint. It was great in the last stint to have a good balance and it really came on strong towards the right end.
“I was a bit lucky with the lapped traffic holding Jamie up a bit to close the gap down quicker. I think all three of us were on a par in track position.”
The result also gave co-driver Warren Luff – who held the #888 TeamVodafone Holden inside the top three during his opening double stint – his debut V8 win after seasons of alternating between full-time and co-driver duties.
Garth Tander and Nick Percat finished in fourth place with polesitters Shane van Gisbergen and Luke Youlden fifth. Van Gisbergen had looked to challenge Tander for fourth in the closing laps but didn’t quite have enough, dropping behind to secure fifth.
David Reynolds charged home, finishing sixth after emerging from the stops two places further down the order. Tim Slade and Andrew Thompson had a solid day and finished 7th, one place ahead of Stone Brothers Racing team mates Lee Holdsworth and Craig Baird.
James Courtney and Cameron McConville had a good day to finish ninth with Jonathan Webb and 19-year-old rookie Scott McLaughlin combining to compete the top 10.
A three-day crowd of over 57,000 people turned out for the return of the 500 to Sandown.
Just 119 points cover the top three in the championship heading into the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 – the closest ever margin between three contenders heading into the annual October classic.
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