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JAMES PAVEY FOX SPORTS -Imperious: Jamie Whincup makes major statement with dominant Adelaide 500 victory

For all the off-season driver and team changes, and for all the technical changes, Jamie Whincup kept on winning.The seven-time series champion made it a record 11 wins on the Adelaide streets on Saturday just hours after sealing an 84th career pole – and a day after it was confirmed he would drive on in 2021 with the Red Bull Holden Racing Team. For all the uncertainties over how competitive the race would be, Whincup put them to bed – in the battle for P1, at least – as his rivals went for broke behind him.

Whincup’s teammate Shane van Gisbergen resumed his rivalry with countryman and defending series champion Scott McLaughlin, who won the battle of the Kiwis to fill out the podium places. The race began with Whincup winning the start and creating a gap despite an early onslaught from David Reynolds, who looked racy after his defiant shootout performance. Starting seventh, McLaughlin was the first to blink and short-fuelled at the end of Lap 7, and set about throwing the cat among the pigeons.

However, Whincup’s pace proved far too consistent to usurp by race’s end, but the ploy from Shell V-Power Racing at least gave the factory Holden squad food for thought. By Lap 16, Whincup had extended his lead over Reynolds to three seconds, while there was a raging battle pack behind the Penrite Racing driver. Chaz Mostert pitted from P4 on Lap 22, with Reynolds and Will Davison pitting one lap later. Van Gisbergen stopped on Lap 24 and emerged ahead of the race’s high-intensity sequence of events.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/motorsport/supercars/supercars-2020-adelaide-500-race-1-live-blog-updates-video-race-report/news-story/9a718a70a27837b1ae4acfd392d37906

Mostert was desperate to clear Davison and nudged the #23 Milwaukee Mustang at the final corner, and latched onto the back of the red Ford before Cameron Waters got involved. On Lap 27, Whincup stopped and emerged five seconds down on McLaughlin – but the gap began to diminish as the seven-time series champion found his groove. The second pit sequence saw McLaughlin – on Lap 42 – stop for roughly eight more seconds of fuel, handing the effective lead to Whincup once the latter stopped on Lap 47.

Whincup carried a seven-second lead after his stop, and the margin hovered for the rest of the race, yet barely closed. Van Gisbergen, now third, closed on McLaughlin and came close, but couldn’t maintain a pace consistent enough to overhaul his great rival. Ahead of them, the sport’s most successful driver converted pole to victory, and marked his new contract extension with a first win in Adelaide since 2016. It was Whincup’s 119th career victory, adding to his dominant end to 2019 when he claimed four of the season’s final six race wins.

 

 

 

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