Will Davison wins crazy Tasmanian race and takes the championship lead

Will Davison in the Tekno Autosports’ Holden VF Commodore wins a second V8 Supercars race of the Tasmania SuperSprint at Symmons Plains circuit and he takes the lead in the championship after five races were held.

Davison wins after a dramatic late-race incident which caused a chaos at Symmons Plains, with leaders and few more cars went off at the hairpin. Davison capitalised on others’ misfortune and took the lead, to become the fifth different winner in five races. He is now leading in the points standings with 417 points, fifteen more than Craig Lowndes and twenty-four more than Jamie Whincup.

Mark Winterbottom started from pole

Davison fastest in qualifying but he lost the pole after penalty

Davison’s Commodore was quickest in qualifying but he was stripped of pole position and moved three places down because of the incident with James Courtney. Defending champion Mark Winterbottom started from pole in the 84-lap race but lost the lead early from Red Bull’s Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup.

The Safety car period followed on Lap 5 after Chris Pither crashed on the exit of turn 4. The entire field took the pit-stop. Whincup stacked behind teammate and returned as 13th while Shane van Gisbergen and Mark Winterbottom remained in front.

Will Davison is a fifth different winner in five races of the 2016 season

With four laps to go the chaos started

On Lap 39 Whincup pitted again and immediately after that he stuck in a gravel on the hairpin, which caused another Safety Car period. After a re-start, Van Gisbergen and Winterbottom fought for the win. With four laps to go Shane van Gisbergen was already preparing to celebrate his second victory in two days but he sleds off the track and hit the barriers. Winterbottom also went off but returned to the race soon. It seems that oil dropped from Cameron Waters‘ car caused the problems on the hairpin, where few more cars went off.

Will Davison took the lead for the last four laps and won ahead of Craig Lowndes. Mark Winterbottom finished third. Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin finished fourth, ahead of Chaz Mostert in the Ford FG X Falcon.

The Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander and James Courtney finished 6th and 7th respectively. Fabian Coulthard (DJR Team Penske) finished where he started, in the eighth place. Holdens of Lee Holdsworth and Jason Bright rounded the Top 10. Michael Caruso finished 11th as the best Nissan’s driver.

The V8 Supercars Championship next round are scheduled for April 15 to 17 at Philip Island.

Check the full results of the Tasmania SuperSprint

Photos: v8supercars.com.au, V8X Magazine