Whincup takes sixth win of the year

TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup has won his sixth race of the year in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Whincup has now built a 198 point lead over Mark Winterbottom, who’s now back up to second place in the standings.

Garth Tander started from pole, but didn’t have the pace to keep the TeamVodafone driver behind, and Whincup took the lead on lap 10.

James Courtney, who had briefly become the leading Ford driver in the championship on the back of his third place finish in yesterday’s race, received a mechanical black flag for dragging suspension – and would be classified 11 laps down in 24th place.

This elevates Mark Winterbottom back into second, despite only finishing 14th.

Ford having a terrible race overall, with only two of the top ten cars belonging to the marque, Courtney’s team mate Johnson in fifth, and Shane van Gisbergen in eighth.

Fujitsu Racing had a great race, with drivers Michael Caruso & Lee Holdsworth securing third and fourth place finishes.

Tander, after a terrible start to the season in the flyaway races, has now worked his way up to fifth in the standings, but is still 348 points adrift of reigning champion Whincup.