Defending V8 Supercars champion Jamie Whincup’s bid to regain the series lead has continued with victory in Saturday’s opening race at the Ipswich 400.
Whincup, who has won five of the past seven races, came out on top of teammate Craig Lowndes to secure the win in the first of two 33-lap races at Queensland Raceway.
The Red Bull Racing driver overtook pole-sitter Lowndes with 10 laps to go before pulling away to win by four-and-a-half seconds.
Whincup is 72 points behind championship leader Mark Winterbottom, who came home sixth.
“We’ve just got to keep chipping away,” Whincup told the Seven Network.
“We’ve come from a long back, we’re getting closer but still a long way to go.”
Lowndes came second with young Volvo driver Scott McLaughlin, who secured pole position for the second of Saturday’s races, coming third.
Winterbottom did his best to maximise his points haul with a late bid to pass Holden’s James Courtney for fifth but had to settle for sixth position.
After only managing to qualify in 11th for the second race, Winterbottom admits he has a battle on to avoid more damage later on Saturday afternoon.
“If you’re not quick enough, there’s a lot of rounds to go, they’re going to eat you up,” he told Seven.
“We’ve got pretty good race pace but when you qualify there you spend all your time coming through and burn up everything.
“You’ve just got to keep fighting.”
Saturday’s second race starts at 4.30pm (AEST).