Asian Motor Sports

Defending V8 Supercar champion Jamie Whincup today continued his 100 per cent start to the year by winning the first race of the Hamilton 400.

Whincup, who started second on the grid, took the lead from polesitter and fellow Ford driver Mark Winterbottom on the first lap and stayed in front for the rest of the 200km contest.

The Victorian had also taken the checkered flag in both races of the season-opening Clipsal 500 in Adelaide last month.

Winterbottom ended second after 59 laps of the 3.4km street circuit, ahead of Lee Holdsworth in the first Holden home.

The result bucked the tradition of Holden dominance in the New Zealand round, with Ford having won just one of the previous 24 races staged on this side of the Tasman since the first in 2001.

It also helped Whincup, who set a new lap record of one minute 24.4701 seconds, to erase his nightmare in Hamilton 12 months ago, when a crash in qualifying ended his participation.

The best of the five-strong New Zealand contingent was Fabian Coulthard, who started 21st on the grid but piloted his Ford to sixth at the finish.

Teenager Shane Van Gisbergen, also in a Ford, was the only other New Zealander in the top 10 with a ninth placing.

Meanwhile, compatriot Greg Murphy’s bad luck in Hamilton continued when he lasted just six laps before failing to take a corner in his Holden and hitting a wall front first.

A four-time overall winner when the New Zealand round was held at Pukekohe, Murphy had a disappointing time at the inaugural Hamilton 400 last April.

The second and final race, also over 200km, will be contested tomorrow.