By JARROD POTTER
FROM start to finish, Red Bull Racing team Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell dominated the Sandown 500.
The biggest Victorian V8 Supercars meet of the season descended on the Sandown Racecourse for a frenetic 161 fast-paced laps around the technical circuit.
Dumbrell started from pole position and he and Whincup turned back the clock to take the first Sandown 500 win from the start of the grid since 1996.
The part-time driver set the stage for Whincup to storm to victory after the co-driver smashed out 86 scintillating laps around the circuit to maintain the Red Bull lead.
The first safety car at lap 42 eroded Dumbrell’s early lead, but the businessman lit up the course in the Holden and handed over to the series leader and defending champion Whincup to take the team to the chequered flag.
Spectators had their hearts in their mouths after Erebus Motorsport’s Lee Holdsworth suffered a sickening crash on the 131st lap.
Holdsworth was lucky to escape his Mercedes virtually unscathed after a mechanical failure sent him careening into the tyre barrier at over 250 kilometres an hour coming off the back straight of the 3.1 kilometre course.
Whincup had to hold the field at bay after the resumption to clock in for a two-second win, as surging Holden Racing Team duos James Courtney/Greg Murphy and Garth Tander/Warren Luff made life tough for the Red Bull maestro at the front of the field.
The win pushes Whincup out to a 273-point lead over Red Bull Racing team-mate Craig Lowndes ahead of the biggest race of the year in three weeks – the Bathurst 1000 starting on 9 October.
