Whincup extends points lead with second Abu Dhabi win

Whincup's day out in Abu Dhabi

All season Jamie Whincup has said he expects the championship to come down to the final race of the year at the Sydney Telstra 500 in December.

This weekend at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi the TeamVodafone driver is clearly trying prove himself wrong, by breaking the back of the series title chase before anyone else can get a look in.

Whincup won Race 25 of the championship today just 90 minutes after doing the same in Race 24.

Jamie Whincup, Team Vodafone

Photo by: Edge Photographics

Will Davison was second and Shane van Gisbergen third in a repeat of the top three positions of the earlier race, but Whincup’s fifth win from six starts in Abu Dhabi proves his dominance here.

Davison was slow away from the line and Whincup beat him in the drag race to turn one – and that’s the way the order remained for the next 12 laps.

The TradingPost FPR driver stayed within one second of the leader for the first half of the race, however a late-race push after conserving his Dunlop Soft tyres saw Whincup pull away in the closing stages to record another win.

It was his 10th win of the season - matching his championship-winning effort of 2011 - and also made his car, Triple Eight chassis #023, the most successful individual chassis in V8 Supercars History.

It also gives him a 270-point championship lead going into tomorrow’s Race 26.

Mark Winterbottom made a strong start and after dispatching Lee Holdsworth for fourth place on Lap two, before setting out after van Gisbergen. Winterbottom got to the back of the SP Tools Ford on the final lap but just fell short of getting himself on the podium.

Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel Racing

Photo by: Edge Photographics

Garth Tander was fifth, ahead of Tim Slade, David Reynolds, Lee Holdsworth, Jonathon Webb and Fabian Coulthard.

The latter trio were involved in the battle of the race – a six-car freight train for much of the first eight laps that waged between the group of drivers.

Coulthard started fourteenth but was one of the biggest movers in the field in gaining four places.

Despite predictions of potential chaos, the soft-tyre race was trouble free despite scorching temperatures on and off the track – the circuit peaking at more than 45 degrees during the race.

All 28 cars finished with Rick Kelly (12th), and James Courtney (14th) both rebounding from their earlir non-finishes.

V8 Supercars Australia