Sydney Supercars: Whincup wins wild wet night race

A fast start from the third row of the grid proved decisive for Whincup, the seven-time series champ bolting into the lead.

The head of the field was the place to be, too, visibility next to nothing in the pack thanks to the spray under lights.

Whincup was able to maintain the lead across the action-packed race, securing victory over Anton De Pasquale and back row starter Chaz Mostert after the race was declared with seven laps to go.

It wasn't just Whincup who made a quick getaway at the start, Bryce Fullwood coming from even further back to slot into second.

It was obvious that Fullwood's start was a little too good, though, and he was subsequently hit with a pitlane penalty for a premature launch.

There was more Lap 1 action further back in the pack, Brodie Kostecki and James Courtney both firing off at Turn 3, their respective Boost Mobile-backed cars ending up in the tyre wall.

That prompted a six-lap Safety Car to retrieve the cars and repair the barrier.

The restart provided more drama, series leader Shane van Gisbergen, who had been running fourth, sailing off the road at Turn 1.

He managed to bounce over the gravel and continue at the back of the field, an impressive charge over the laps that followed helping him back up to 12th.

However he was then slapped with a drive-though for passing De Pasquale before the control line at the restart – only for Triple Eight to successfully argue that De Pasquale had backed off.

The penalty was revoked, only for van Gisbergen to then cop another one when his car was dropped with the rattle gun on the right rear during his stop.

At the front of the field Whincup continued to lead ahead of De Pasquale, while Mostert – coming from the back row after being excluded from qualifying – made great progress by running long.

A Lap 21 Safety Car, called when Jake Kostecki sent his Matt Stone Racing entry into the wall, then played into Mostert's hands, a free stop helping him protect his position on the road.

That Safety Car eventually became a red flag with seven laps to go, before race control opted to call the race off.

That left Whincup as the winner from De Pasquale and Mostert.

"The car lit up off the start, which is the main thing, and I had some nice clean air," said Whincup of his 124th career win.

"It's a weird one to celebrate. Wins don't come very often, so I'm pumped for the win. Supercars did a good job. The fact we've got to rock up here next week as well, we're in a position where we can't be tearing cars up.

"The driver in me says keep going, the team owner in me says it was the right thing to do."

Mostert, meanwhile, was slightly bemused with his third place finish.

"I'm gutted not starting on the front row," he said. "The car was fantastic. The visibility wasn't too bad, I reckon it's worse in the day time with the glare.

"Lots of fun. I don't know how I got to third, I just put my head down and got on with it."

Nick Percat and Tim Slade finished fourth and fifth, the latter dealing without a wiper for most of the race, ahead of Will Brown and Will Davison.

Cam Waters, Todd Hazelwood and Andre Heimgartner were next, while Kelly Grove's sub driver Luke Youlden finish an impressive 11th.

Van Gisbergen was ultimately classified 23rd, his points margin to Whincup cut back to a still very healthy 337.

Cla		Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Interval
1		Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	-
2		Anton De Pasquale	Ford Mustang GT	1.190	1.190	1.190
3		Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	2.437	2.438	1.247
4		Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	3.414	3.414	0.977
5		Tim Slade	Ford Mustang GT	4.520	4.521	1.107
6		Will Brown	Holden Commodore ZB	5.262	5.262	0.742
7		Will Davison	Ford Mustang GT	6.265	6.265	1.003
8		Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	7.121	7.121	0.856
9		Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	7.747	7.747	0.626
10		Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	9.277	9.277	1.530
11		Luke Youlden	Ford Mustang GT	10.066	10.067	0.790
12		Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	10.478	10.478	0.412
13		Zane Goddard	Holden Commodore ZB	11.310	11.310	0.832
14		Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	13.147	13.147	1.837
15		Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	13.969	13.969	0.822
16		Thomas Randle	Ford Mustang GT	14.695	14.696	0.726
17		Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	15.752	15.752	1.057
18		Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	16.661	16.662	0.909
19		Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore ZB	17.531	17.531	0.870
20		Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	18.639	18.639	1.108
21		Kurt Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	20.128	20.128	1.489
22		Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	21.814	21.814	1.686
23		Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	24.447	24.448	2.633
		Jake Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB
		Brodie Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB
		James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT
View full results