Only something dramatic, it seemed, would deny reigning champion Jamie Whincup yet another victory in the 2014 V8 Supercars season-opening finale in Adelaide on Sunday.

But fans at the notorious street circuit have begun to expect the unexpected – and that again proved the case as Whincup spluttered out of race contention in an absorbing race-three finish.

Whincup looked set to cap a dream start to his plan to claim an unprecedented sixth touring car title when he emerged clear of an incident-packed race three.

However, with 25 laps left in the 76-lap event finale, Whincup copped a drive-through penalty for a pit-lane infringement.

Then as he tried to battle his way back through the field, a desperate Whincup made contact with Michael Caruso and speared off the concrete track, ultimately finishing 15th.

When the dust settled, Holden’s James Courtney took race-three line honours ahead of Whincup’s teammate Craig Lowndes with pole sitter Shane van Gisbergen third.

While it was heartbreaking for Whincup, it was a timely shot in the arm for Holden Racing Team’s Courtney, the 2007 V8 champion, in his first round since poaching Red Bull’s team principal Adrian Burgess.

After the first round, Lowndes leads the series with 282 points ahead of Holden’s Fabian Coulthard (230), van Gisbergen (221) and Whincup (199).

In all, eight of the 25-strong field failed to finish a race that, at times, left punters with their hearts in their mouths.

Will Davison capped a miserable first round as Mercedes’ recruit when he lost his front wheel and passenger side door in an 11th-lap bingle with Nissan’s James Moffat, prompting the first safety car.

And the yellow flag came out again soon after the restart when Holden veteran Jason Bright spectacularly corkscrewed into the wall in an incident that also winged Ford’s Scott Pye and Mercedes’ Lee Holdsworth.

Bright blamed the new restart rules for the shocking crash, saying the field became too congested under regulations which force the race leader, post-safety car, to stay under 60km/h before hitting top speed in an allocated “acceleration zone”.

Van Gisbergen and Nissan’s Ricky Kelly also would not have been big fans of the new restart regulations when they copped a shattering drive-through penalty for speeding in the acceleration zone. They had threatened the lead after Bright miraculously walked away from his disturbing accident.