Motorsport: Whincup victory breaks Holden's NZ stranglehold

Jamie Whincup sprays champagne over team members after winning race one of the Hamilton 400. Photo / Getty Images

Holden's near-monopoly on the New Zealand round of the Australian V8 Supercars was loosened after race one yesterday when Ford driver Jamie Whincup achieved only the second win for the blue oval on these shores.

It was redemption for his last time in Hamilton when he didn't even make the grid after his car was totalled during qualifying.

"What a crazy day. I was commentator here last year and 21st fastest on Friday but everything worked for us during the race," said Whincup, who set a new lap record during the race. "Last year was the darkest day so far. Today was a reward for all the hard work we did last time that didn't pay off."

Reigning V8 champion Whincup drove a consummate race to finish ahead of Mark Winterbottom and the first Holden home of Lee Holdsworth.

"There'll be a bit of pressure on me to reassert Holden's dominance here in New Zealand," said Holdsworth. "It's going to be hard work but I'll be doing my best to catch Jamie."

It wasn't a good day for the Kiwis though - best placed of the home-grown bunch was Fabian Coulthard.

"It wasn't a bad little drive was it?" stated Coulthard. "If you'd have told me I'd finish sixth after qualifying back in 21st, I'd have laughed at you."

The race settled down straight from the start but carnage soon ensued, with numerous cars coming into contact with walls around the track. Some of it was self-inflicted, while other incidents were through over-exuberance and various coming togethers.

Once things had settled down again, it was Whincup's race to lose, which he never looked like doing. The race proceeded at an orderly pace until four laps from the end, when Marcus Marshall thumped heavily into the tyres at the chicane. After the restart, it was just a sprint to the finish.

Friday's practice times were thrown out the window when the drivers voted to put the tyres back into the chicane to stop the cars straight-lining the complex. The first two qualifying legs removed 20 of the cars, leaving the fastest to battle it out in the top-10 shootout.

Always a crowd favourite, it didn't disappoint, with Winterbottom sneaking on to pole with a last-gasp 1m 23.8s, just 0.007s faster than Whincup.

"My lap and Jamie's lap were so close, there's bugger all in it," said Winterbottom. "I got it right on my lap and got pole. If Jamie got it right on his lap, he would have got pole."

During the second qualifying session, Jason Richards had a scare through the chicane when he launched his car well up on to two wheels and came so close to the exit wall that his wing mirror was smashed against the concrete.

"Just trying a bit too hard, I suppose, and I had a moment," commented Richards, who qualified 20th and finished 10th in race one.

By the end of qualifying, Shane Van Gisbergen was the best-placed New Zealander, putting his Ford 11th on the grid and he finished ninth in yesterday's race.

Greg Murphy's run of misfortune on his home turf continued when he planted his car into the wall a mere seven laps into the race and subsequently retired the car.

When the New Zealand version of the big Aussie V8s hit the circuit for their first time out, it was NZV8 champion Kayne Scott who stayed out of most of the trouble, bar an incident with Angus Fogg, to take the win from Fogg and Andrew Porter.

When it comes to racing the Porsche GT3 Cup cars, the organisers may just as well give the winner's trophy to Craig Baird before the start - such is his dominance in the class.

Baird made it two from two yesterday, with the rest of the field wallowing in his wake. Jono Lester and Daniel Gaunt where the only two to get a sniff of Baird's tailpipes.

Young Richie Stanaway, fresh from his rookie Formula Ford championship-winning season, put a few noses out of joint when he won the Toyota Racing Series race in his first time out in the car.

Today's action gets under way at 9.20am with the NZV8s, followed by V8 Supercar qualifying at 1pm and the race at 3pm.