Whincup, Dumbrell cruise at Sandown

TRIPLE Eight has scored an historic 1-2-3 result in the Sandown 500, where Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell led all comers in a Supercars cakewalk.

Shane van Gisbergen and codriver Earl Bamber, on his Supercars debut, were second, with veteran pairing Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards rounding out the podium.

The result consolidates van Gisbergen’s lead in the championship standings and secured a first podium lockout for Roland Dane’s master team in more than two years.

But it wasn’t captivating. In a mind-numbingly dull start to the Enduro Cup, car No.1 cruised to a success that looked likely from Friday’s first practice session.

Dumbrell trashed Whincup’s long-running lap record on his first spin around the Melbourne circuit, showing the awesome pace of the Red Bull Holden Racing Team ZB Commodore.

Whincup took his own record back in qualifying, when only an overly cautious decision to put on wet tyres cost them pole position.

That didn’t matter yesterday, when Dumbrell swiftly jumped polesitter David Reynolds’ co-driver Luke Youlden. Whincup and Dumbrell then controlled the race throughout to claim their third Sandown victory after wins in 2013-14.

“I couldn’t be happier. The car’s been awesome all weekend,” Whincup said.

“We brought three really quick cars this weekend and I’m really proud of the engineering group.”

Whincup’s win was his fourth in the Sandown 500 — he also triumphed with Lowndes in 2007 — while Van Gisbergen’s race-day resurgence headed off a hit to his title hopes.

The Kiwi was off the pace at the Home of Horsepower until yesterday, when Bamber improved from his 11th-placed start and van Gisbergen completed the recovery mission for Red Bull’s other combination.

“What a privilege to drive these cars with the Red Bull Holden Racing Team. They gave us some rockets today,” van Gisbergen said.

The Kiwi’s chief rival for the title, countryman Scott McLaughlin, finished fourth by holding off outside championship shot Reynolds.

Van Gisbergen’s lead now stands at 55 points with just four rounds remaining.