Holden’s Jamie Whincup has continued his love affair with Townsville, claiming victory in Saturday’s 200km V8 Supercars race.
The TeamVodafone pilot extended his championship lead to 61 points and claimed his fourth victory from just seven races in far north Queensland.
Ford’s Mark Winterbottom leapfrogged teammate Will Davison to second in the standings after finishing behind Whincup with Holden’s Garth Tander coming home third.
Davison, who now finds himself third in the title race despite having the most race wins (six) this season, had a tough day to finish 12th in the 72-lap race.
In an action-packed race which featured several safety car call-outs and plenty of different tyre strategies, Whincup took hold from pole-sitter Winterbottom on the 45th lap.
The duo endured a tough finish to the race, both close to running out of fuel on the last lap, but Whincup did enough to hold on and claim his fourth win of the season.
At the back of the pack, ex-Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve had a tough first solo drive in V8 Supercars, retiring after just 18 laps after an engine drama in his Kelly Racing Commodore.
The Townsville 400 wraps up on Sunday with another 200km race.