V8 Supercars

V8Supercars - media releases below

Blessing TeamVodafone’s move to Holden ahead of Clipsal

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Just days ahead of TeamVodafone’s first race in a Holden on Australian soil at Clipsal 500, drivers Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup will be making a pit stop of a different kind in the ‘City of Churches’.

Father Dean Marin will bless Lowndes and Whincup and the TeamVodafone Commodore in their quests for another stellar V8 Supercar season, this time behind the wheel of a Holden.

The drivers, who have just returned from two standout race weekends in the Middle East, will be meeting with fans following the event to be held on Tuesday March 9th.

Where: St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral – Mary MacKillop Plaza, Cnr Victoria Square and Waymouth St, Adelaide City.

When: Tuesday March 9, 11.30am – 11.45am

Bahrain – Race results (2)

Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup does it again and wins his fourth race on the trot to maintain his perfect start to the 2010 V8 Supercars Championship.

1. Jamie Whincup Team Vodafone Holden 37 laps
2. Mark Winterbottom FPR Ford 37 laps
3. Shane van Gisbergen Stone Brothers Ford 37 laps
4. Rick Kelly Jack Daniel's Racing Holden 37 laps
5. Lee Holdsworth Fujitsu Racing Holden 37 laps
6. Will Davison Toll HRT Holden 37 laps
7. James Courtney Jim Beam Racing Ford 37 laps
8. Jason Richards Team BOC Holden 37 laps
9. Michael Caruso Fujitsu Racing Holden 37 laps
10. Paul Dumbrell Bottle-O Racing Ford 37 laps
11. Steven Johnson Jim Beam Racing Ford 37 laps
12. Craig Lowndes Team Vodafone Holden 37 laps
13. Russell Ingall Supercheap Auto Racing Holden 37 laps
14. Jason Bargwanna Kelly Racing Holden 37 laps
15. Steven Richards FPR Ford 37 laps
16. Jonathan Webb Dick Johnson Racing Ford 37 laps
17. Alex Davison Stone Brothers Ford 37 laps
18. Tim Slade Wilson Security Racing Ford 37 laps
19. Tony d'Alberto Centaur Racing Holden 37 laps
20. Dean Fiore Triple F Racing Ford 37 laps
21. Tony Ricciardello Kelly Racing Holden 37 laps
22. Greg Murphy Supercheap Auto Racing Holden 36 laps
23. Daniel Gaunt Gulf Western Oil Racing Holden 36 laps
24. Garth Tander Toll HRT Holden 36 laps
25. Jason Bright Team BOC Holden 32 laps
26. Fabian Coulthard Bundaberg Red Holden 28 laps
27. Karl Reindler Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Holden 27 laps
28. Andrew Thompson Bundaberg Red Holden 22 laps
29. Todd Kelly Jack Daniel's Racing Holden 1 laps

Bahrain – Race results (1)

Jamie Whincup maintains his undefeated streak thus far in 2010 with a third victory from as many starts in the Desert 400 opener in Bahrain, leading FPR rival Mark Winterbottom and Team Vodafone team-mate Craig Lowndes to the chequered flag

1. Jamie Whincup Team Vodafone Holden 37 laps
2. Mark Winterbottom FPR Ford 37 laps
3. Craig Lowndes Team Vodafone Holden 37 laps
4. Garth Tander Toll HRT Holden 37 laps
5. Shane van Gisbergen Stone Brothers Ford 37 laps
6. James Courtney Jim Beam Racing Ford 37 laps
7. Russell Ingall Supercheap Auto Racing Holden 37 laps
8. Will Davison Toll HRT Holden 37 laps
9. Rick Kelly Jack Daniel's Racing Holden 37 laps
10. Michael Caruso Fujitsu Racing Holden 37 laps

11. Steven Johnson Jim Beam Racing Ford 37 laps
12. Lee Holdsworth Fujitsu Racing Holden 37 laps
13. Jason Bright Team BOC Holden 37 laps
14. Jonathan Webb Dick Johnson Racing Ford 37 laps
15. Jason Bargwanna Kelly Racing Holden 37 laps
16. Greg Murphy Supercheap Auto Racing Holden 37 laps
17. Fabian Coulthard Bundaberg Red Holden 37 laps
18. Alex Davison Stone Brothers Ford 37 laps
19. Jason Richards Team BOC Holden 37 laps
20. Todd Kelly Jack Daniel's Racing Holden 37 laps
21. Tim Slade Wilson Security Racing Ford 37 laps
22. Andrew Thompson Bundaberg Red Holden 37 laps
23. Tony d'Alberto Centaur Racing Holden 37 laps
24. Karl Reindler Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Holden 36 laps
25. Tony Ricciardello Kelly Racing Holden 36 laps
26. Daniel Gaunt Gulf Western Oil Racing Holden 36 laps
27. Paul Dumbrell Bottle-O Racing Ford 33 laps

Rtd Steven Richards FPR Ford 16 laps
Rtd Dean Fiore Triple F Racing Ford 5 laps

Winterbottom: Whincup not invincible

Jamie Whincup does it again in Bahrain – but Mark Winterbottom reckons his time will come...

Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom is certain there is some kryptonite to blunt the force of Jamie Whincup in the V8 Supercar Championship Series.

On a day when the King Hamad ibn Isa Al-Khalifa and Crown Prince Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa of Bahrain mingled openly with teams and drivers on the grid, Whincup stormed the field for the third straight time in the first race of the Gulf Air Desert 400 in Bahrain today.

With Winterbottom hanging in for second and Whincup's TeamVodafone partner Craig Lowndes third, Winterbottom believes his time will come after a second and a third in the opening Abu Dhabi round then a second in Bahrain.

“The day will come. At the moment we will keep tuning what we have got, keep bagging points, keep learning and when the time comes it will come quickly,” Winterbottom said.

“At the moment two seconds and a third is a great start. We are definitely stronger than we were at the start of last year so who knows? You can't control how well the other teams are going. Jamie is having a great run so to finish second when he is best on the day is all you can do.

“He is on top of his game in a team with the momentum they have got. I have the best engineer in pit lane so we will rattle heads and close the gap. I have got full faith that we can do the job.”

It was close to the perfect day for Whincup when he claimed Armor All pole position in the Armor All top ten shootout after being set a huge challenge firstly by Winterbottom and then SP Tools Racing's Shane Van Gisbergen.

“Of course every Championship win is special in its own way,” Whincup said. “Today was a great day for TeamVodafone and myself. Pole this morning was definitely one of my best. The pressure you have got going on to go out last to beat an already cracking lap is hard work.

“But still at the moment we are unsure, we are going into races unsure of how the car will perform and we take an educated guess. So far we have made the right calls but we will face our challenges during the year.

“I know this Championship is going to come down to two points at the end of the year, it always does.”

TeamVodafone top again

Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes set practice pace in countdown to the Gulf Air Desert 400 at the Bahrain International Circuit.

An extra 80 minutes of practice time for arguably their main rivals failed to prevent another TeamVodafone 1-2 sweep on the second leg of the Middle East tour after practice at the Gulf Air Desert 400 at the Bahrain International Circuit today.

Toll Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander and Will Davison had the benefit of the extra running time following their disastrous season opener at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi last weekend under the rules which give the bottom half of the field two more practice sessions.

Jack Daniel's Racing's Todd Kelly, who also had a terrible Abu Dhabi weekend, did see some benefits for a third today with in-form Shane Van Gisbergen fourth and Ford Performance Racing's Steven Richards fifth.

But Tander (sixth) and Davison (12th) were still more than a second off the pace compared to Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes who set the fastest two times late in the day on the tyre-tough Bahrain track.

Both Lowndes and Whincup used new tyres at the end on the circuit that was part unfamiliar to the teams with the extension to include the full Grand Prix track that Formula One used last year.

“Most people walked the track yesterday and had a good idea of what it would be like,” Lowndes said. “Jamie and I had a good run last time we were here and we got to know that new section of the track pretty quickly.

“The car wasn't perfect. We made a lot of adjustments during the first set of tyres. It was a bit of an unknown setup until the end but a green tyre around here is very rewarding if you get the lines right.”

Kelly said the small reward of extra practice time would easily be swapped for a better start to the Championship.

“He (Whincup) is not last so that's not fair either,” Kelly said. “We are looking at this weekend as a clean slate and the first round of the Championship.”

Tander was at the top of the sheets late in practice and spent the last few minutes watching from the garage. In the end his time was not enough but practice is practice and it is likely they will fire back tomorrow in qualifying and for the first race.

Richards' team-mate Mark Winterbottom (16th) was also struggling in the Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon, as was Jim Beam Racing's James Courtney (14th). Greg Murphy, appearing at his first outing, was a solid 10th in his first time in the car on a race weekend this year.

Both Castrol Racing's Murphy and Supercheap Auto's Russell Ingall (ninth) also appeared to benefit from the additional practice time.