Whincup dominates on streets

Red Bull Holden Racing struck a counter-punch on Supercars championship rivals Shell V-Power Racing yesterday as Jamie Whincup led team-mate Shane van Gisbergen home in a one-two finish in the Townsville street race.

The Ford outfit has dominated the championship so far and series leader Scott McLaughlin made a strong start from pole position. But defending champion Whincup made a dive at the Kiwi on lap two, made the pass stick and never looked back, cruising to his 110th career race win.

It was Whincup’s 10th win in his 20th start over the past decade at Townsville.

“David Cauchi [Whincup’s engineer] gave me an absolute rocket. I had a lot of fun — one-two for the team — I couldn’t be happier,” Whincup said.

Van Gisbergen found his way past McLaughlin in the pits and held him off for the remainder of the race. McLaughlin eventually settled for third.

Craig Lowndes, fresh off announcing his retirement at season’s end, brought his Holden home in fourth while New Zealander Fabian Coulthard was fifth.

The Holden factory-backed team have proven quick in races this season but have struggled to get comparable qualifying times with McLaughlin, which has seen them concede too much of a start.

But their qualifying performance was much better and, as a result, the Holdens were able to get the jump on McLaughlin.

“Red Bull Holden Racing Team — we have some awesome cars here,” Van Gisbergen said after the race. “Fantastic, I can’t thank them enough.

“I really enjoyed that race. I had a great battle with Scotty, too.”

While McLaughlin battled to keep a podium finish, he lost minimal ground in the championship battle.

“[Whincup] was fast from the getgo. I got a good start but he went blistering past and I had nothing for him, to be honest,” he said.