Motorsport: Whincup triumphs on day of crashes

More than 170,000 spectators turned up over three days. Photo / EDGE Photographics

SURFERS PARADISE - Holden star Jamie Whincup won a thrilling 300km V8 Supercar race at the Gold Coast yesterday.

The TeamVodafone ace held off fast-finishing New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen in the closing laps of the 102-lap race on the streets of Surfers Paradise to cut James Courtney's lead in the championship series to 71 points.

Pole-sitter Mark Winterbottom came in third for Ford Performance Racing with Courtney a close fourth.

Whincup's battle with Van Gisbergen was a thrilling finish to a race that featured several accidents and more than 10 cars failing to cross the finish line.

The first incident was on lap four when a crash between the Irwin Falcon driven by David Brabham and Holden's Cameron McConville, sent Brabham's car ploughing into a wall.

From there the race descended into short bursts of racing punctuated by a series of crashes.

New Zealand IndyCar star Scott Dixon drove straight into the rear of Andrew Jones' Team BOC Commodore as the Holden driver slowed drastically down the main straight, the crash sending wheels from both vehicles rolling down the track.

Six laps later IndyCar driver Helio Castroneves and Steven Johnson brought the safety car out again and made it nine retirements before the race was even halfway completed.

Things did settle down after that point, although Saturday's race winner Garth Tander crashed out in the 59th lap when he hit the wall on turn one trying to avoid cars rejoining the track from pitlane.

From there Whincup, Winterbottom, Van Gisbergen and Courtney emerged in a four-car front pack for the edge-of-your-seat charge to the line.

Whincup and Courtney will resume their championship hostilities at Symmons Plains in Tasmania from November 12 to 14.

Yesterday's crowd of 58,977 took the spectator total for the three-day event at Surfers Paradise to 170,073, down on the peak years when the American Indy Racing Series visited.

V8 Supercars chief executive Martin Whitaker said the revamped event, which was created in the wake of last year's disastrous no-show by the now-defunct A1 GP series, had truly ticked all the boxes.

"I think we've had a bit of everything that we've expected.

"Loads of high drama, loads of incidents but at the same time some great racing and some really, really good TV. I think the crowds have had a real experience here.

"We're in the entertainment business. I think there's no shadow of a doubt this has been a really entertaining weekend for everybody, blessed by the fact that we've had wonderful weather," he said.

Eighteen overseas-based drivers were paired up with regular V8 drivers for the weekend and Whitaker says the former Formula One, IndyCar, World and European Touring Car stars were a key component to the weekend's success.

- AAP