TeamVodafone driver Craig Lowndes won the first race at Winton Raceway today (Saturday), ending teammate Jamie Whincup’s perfect points haul.

Whincup finished in second, proving there is nothing that TeamVodafone can’t do at the moment.

It is the second one-two finish in five events for TeamVodafone – the last was in race three at Symmons Plains last year, but the drivers were in reverse.

Ford Performance Racing’s Steve Richards finished third this afternoon to make it a trifecta for Ford.

Today was the first ever race that the Dunlop Soft tyre was being used, and the tyre certainly served its purpose.

The 33-lap race was action-packed virtually from start to finish with plenty of passing and clashes.

And tyre strategy actually clinched the win for Lowndes.

While Whincup started on the Soft tyre and kept them on for the whole race, Lowndes changed from the normal Control tyre to the Soft one 11 laps after the start.

A Safety Car brought about by Jason Bargwanna’s #3 Sprint Gas Racing Commodore, which was bogged in a sand trap, played into the hands of Lowndes’ strategy.

On fresher tyres, Lowndes was able to easily pass a number of drivers after the restart as they struggled on older Soft tyres.

“We wanted two different strategies because we didn’t know which one was going to work and by the look of it both of them came up trumps for us,” Lowndes said.

“The car had great speed but at the same time we didn’t know how hard to push it early on to get the maximum speed out of it, but the drop off was going to be greater.

“For us the Safety Car actually worked in my favour because it brought both of the Valvoline cars and Jamie back to me and we had better tyre life at that point and we were able to get a gap and hold it.”

Whincup said despite the end to his perfect points haul, he was “very, very happy” with his result.

“I pitted on lap one (to take on fuel); I was praying for no Safety Car, but it did come and allowed these guys to catch up,” he said.

“(It is a) fantastic result for everyone at TeamVodafone.”

Richards, who also put the Soft tyres on later in the race rather than start on them, came seriously close to unseating Whincup of his second place.

“I was just trying to set myself up where I could have a crack on the exit of a corner and he made it too tough for me,” Richards explained.

“I was surprised actually; we did a run yesterday on the Sprint tyre and it went away quite rapidly towards the end and it didn’t do that today.”

Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander ended up with the most battered car after he was whacked no less than three times.

Wilson Security Racing’s Fabian Coulthard received a drive-through penalty for hitting Tander’s #2 Commodore, which spun him on the first lap.

Tander was spun again by Garry Rogers Motorsport’s Lee Holdsworth and he also came to grief with Supercheap Auto Racing’s Russell Ingall at the end of the race.

Despite the crash and bash, Tander was still able to finish the race in a commendable eighth position.

Winton race one top 10

Craig Lowndes Falcon
Jamie Whincup Falcon
Steven Richards Falcon
Rick Kelly Commodore
Cameron McConville Commodore
Shane Van Gisbergen Falcon
Will Davison Commodore
Garth Tander Commodore
Russell Ingall Commodore
Michael Caruso Commodore