2008 Clipsal 500

The 2008 Clipsal 500 Adelaide was Round 1 of the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was held from 21 to 24 February around the inner city streets of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. The Adelaide 500 is a unique event where the round results are determined by the results from the second race, rather that the driver with the most points from the weekend. This means that the winner of the round does not necessarily lead the championship after the event.

Qualifying

Qualify was held on Friday 22 February. Jamie Whincup broke the qualifying lap record to snare pole position. James Courtney put himself on the front row in second position with Mark Winterbottom completing a Ford top three. Defending champion Garth Tander fulfilled on early promise at his new team to be best Holden in fourth position.

Race 1

Race 1 was held on Saturday 23 February.

Jamie Whincup was slow away, allowing Garth Tander and James Courtney to force the pace early with Courtney breaking away to a five-second lead. Courtney's lead was squandered after a clash in the Senna Chicane while lapping Jason Richards saw a tyre cut and shredded. Tander later disappeared downfield with suspension damage. Mark Winterbottom led towards the end of the race until a late race safety car period, caused by a clash between HSV Dealer Team teammates Rick Kelly and Paul Dumbrell bunched the field up allowing Whincup, who had earlier had a voltage problem leading to a battery change after 12 laps, to charge through the field, passing Winterbottom with two laps to go to win. Teammate Craig Lowndes, hampered by a jammed anti-roll bar, finished third behind Winterbottom, with Lee Holdsworth the first Holden home in fourth place.

It was an excellent result for the three of the four senior Ford teams, Team Vodafone putting both cars on the podium, Ford Performance Racing were second and fifth, with sixth and seventh filled by Jim Beam Racing.

Courtney, who finished in tenth position, was overnight relegated by the stewards to 16th position because of the clash with Jason Richards, and another similar clash with the other Tasman Motorsport Commodore of Greg Murphy, which also cost him 31 series points.

Race 2

Race 2 was held on Sunday 24 February. Mark Winterbottom lead the race early on with Jamie Whincup moving into the lead before the compulsory pit stops began. Whincup resumed in the lead for much of the remainder of the race, but the minor placings became controversial after a number of overtaking incidents and clashes while overtaking punctuated the race, ending with a collision between James Courtney and Craig Lowndes on lap 55 as Lowndes was overtaking Courtney, the incident also eliminating Winterbottom. After the restart Steven Johnson was controversially assigned a driver-through penalty after overtaking Fabian Coulthard before the restart of the race, although Coulthard's car was slowing and retired to the pits the same lap. Garth Tander also was removed in an overtaking incident, after contact with Johnson sent the Ford driver wide and off track, Tander was glanced by Courtney after losing momentum leaving himself vulnerable to a pass from the following car. The glancing blow triggered a second suspension failure for the defending champion.

With several top runners removed Cameron McConville moved into second for many laps before losing the place with only a few laps to go to Lee Holdsworth. The two Holden racers completed the podium with Todd Kelly making three Holdens in the top four. Fifth place was a career best result for New Zealand teenager Shane van Gisbergen who had only entering V8 Supercar late last year.

Results

Results as follows:

Qualifying

Pos	No	Name	Car	Team	Part 3	Part 2	Part 1
1	88	Template:Flagicon Jamie Whincup	Ford BF Falcon	Triple Eight Race Engineering	1:21.3301
2	4	Template:Flagicon James Courtney	Ford BF Falcon	Stone Brothers Racing	1:21.3406
3	5	Template:Flagicon Mark Winterbottom	Ford BF Falcon	Ford Performance Racing	1:21.6647
4	1	Template:Flagicon Garth Tander	Holden VE Commodore	Holden Racing Team	1:21.6930
5	18	Template:Flagicon Will Davison	Ford BF Falcon	Dick Johnson Racing	1:21.7557
6	888	Template:Flagicon Craig Lowndes	Ford BF Falcon	Triple Eight Race Engineering	1:21.8745
7	33	Template:Flagicon Lee Holdsworth	Holden VE Commodore	Garry Rogers Motorsport	1:21.9638
8	17	Template:Flagicon Steven Johnson	Ford BF Falcon	Dick Johnson Racing	1:22.0282
9	6	Template:Flagicon Steven Richards	Ford BF Falcon	Ford Performance Racing	1:22.0976
10	16	Template:Flagicon Paul Dumbrell	Holden VE Commodore	HSV Dealer Team	No time
11	7	Template:Flagicon Todd Kelly	Holden VE Commodore	Perkins Engineering		1:21.9779
12	15	Template:Flagicon Rick Kelly	Holden VE Commodore	HSV Dealer Team		1:22.0049
13	9	Template:Flagicon Shane van Gisbergen	Ford BF Falcon	Stone Brothers Racing		1:22.0814
14	2	Template:Flagicon Mark Skaife	Holden VE Commodore	Holden Racing Team		1:22.0939
15	3	Template:Flagicon Jason Richards	Holden VE Commodore	Tasman Motorsport		1:22.1513
16	111	Template:Flagicon Fabian Coulthard	Ford BF Falcon	Paul Cruickshank Racing		1:22.3425
17	25	Template:Flagicon Jason Bright	Ford BF Falcon	Britek Motorsport		1:22.3910
18	39	Template:Flagicon Russell Ingall	Holden VE Commodore	Paul Morris Motorsport		1:22.4469
19	14	Template:Flagicon Cameron McConville	Holden VE Commodore	Brad Jones Racing		1:22.4609
20	51	Template:Flagicon Greg Murphy	Holden VE Commodore	Tasman Motorsport		1:22.7538
21	12	Template:Flagicon Andrew Jones	Holden VE Commodore	Brad Jones Racing			1:22.7571
22	34	Template:Flagicon Michael Caruso	Holden VE Commodore	Garry Rogers Motorsport			1:22.7915
23	11	Template:Flagicon Shane Price	Holden VE Commodore	Perkins Engineering			1:22.9660
24	55	Template:Flagicon Tony D'Alberto	Holden VE Commodore	Rod Nash Racing			1:23.0891
25	50	Template:Flagicon Andrew Thompson	Holden VE Commodore	Paul Weel Racing			1:23.1461
26	67	Template:Flagicon Paul Morris	Holden VE Commodore	Paul Morris Motorsport			1:23.6190
27	021	Template:Flagicon Kayne Scott	Ford BF Falcon	Team Kiwi Racing			1:23.9923
28	26	Template:Flagicon Marcus Marshall	Ford BF Falcon	Britek Motorsport			1:24.5641

Race 1 results

Pos	No	Name	Team	Laps	Time/retired	Grid	Points
1	88	Template:Flagicon Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering	78	1:51:37.3538	1	150
2	5	Template:Flagicon Mark Winterbottom	Ford Performance Racing	78	+1.8s	3	138
3	888	Template:Flagicon Craig Lowndes	Triple Eight Race Engineering	78	+2.5s	6	129
4	33	Template:Flagicon Lee Holdsworth	Garry Rogers Motorsport	78	+2.9s	7	120
5	6	Template:Flagicon Steven Richards	Ford Performance Racing	78	+4.1s	9	111
6	17	Template:Flagicon Steven Johnson	Dick Johnson Racing	78	+7.5s	8	102
7	18	Template:Flagicon Will Davison	Dick Johnson Racing	78	+11.0s	5	96
8	15	Template:Flagicon Rick Kelly	HSV Dealer Team	78	+17.4s	12	90
9	2	Template:Flagicon Mark Skaife	Holden Racing Team	78	+19.1s	14	84
10	51	Template:Flagicon Greg Murphy	Tasman Motorsport	78	+22.0s	20	78
11	111	Template:Flagicon Fabian Coulthard	Paul Cruickshank Racing	78	+22.2s	16	72
12	9	Template:Flagicon Shane van Gisbergen	Stone Brothers Racing	78	+22.7s	13	69
13	3	Template:Flagicon Jason Richards	Tasman Motorsport	78	+22.9s	15	66
14	39	Template:Flagicon Russell Ingall	Paul Morris Motorsport	78	+25.5s	18	63
15	7	Template:Flagicon Todd Kelly	Perkins Engineering	78	+35.9s	11	60
16	4	Template:Flagicon James Courtney	Stone Brothers Racing	78	+42.9s	2	57
17	55	Template:Flagicon Tony D'Alberto	Rod Nash Racing	77	+1 Lap	24	54
18	12	Template:Flagicon Andrew Jones	Brad Jones Racing	77	+1 Lap	21	51
19	26	Template:Flagicon Marcus Marshall	Britek Motorsport	76	+2 Laps	28	48
20	50	Template:Flagicon Andrew Thompson	Paul Weel Racing	76	+2 Laps	25	45
21	11	Template:Flagicon Shane Price	Perkins Engineering	74	+4 Laps	23	42
22	021	Template:Flagicon Kayne Scott	Team Kiwi Racing	71	+7 Laps	27	39
23	1	Template:Flagicon Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team	69	+9 Laps	4	36
DNF	16	Template:Flagicon Paul Dumbrell	HSV Dealer Team	67	Accident	10
DNF	14	Template:Flagicon Cameron McConville	Brad Jones Racing	63		19
DNF	67	Template:Flagicon Paul Morris	Paul Morris Motorsport	57	Engine fire	26
DNF	25	Template:Flagicon Jason Bright	Britek Motorsport	53		17
DNF	34	Template:Flagicon Michael Caruso	Garry Rogers Motorsport	29	Accident	22

Race 2 results

Pos	No	Name	Team	Laps	Time/retired	Grid	Points
1	88	Template:Flagicon Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering	78	2:11:45.5992	1	150
2	33	Template:Flagicon Lee Holdsworth	Garry Rogers Motorsport	78	+0.8s	4	138
3	14	Template:Flagicon Cameron McConville	Brad Jones Racing	78	+1.7s	25	129
4	7	Template:Flagicon Todd Kelly	Perkins Engineering	78	+2.2s	15	120
5	9	Template:Flagicon Shane van Gisbergen	Stone Brothers Racing	78	+2.8s	12	111
6	15	Template:Flagicon Rick Kelly	HSV Dealer Team	78	+3.4s	8	102
7	51	Template:Flagicon Greg Murphy	Tasman Motorsport	78	+3.9s	10	96
8	3	Template:Flagicon Jason Richards	Tasman Motorsport	78	+6.0s	13	90
9	17	Template:Flagicon Steven Johnson	Dick Johnson Racing	78	+7.7s	6	84
10	25	Template:Flagicon Jason Bright	Britek Motorsport	78	+9.0s	27	78
11	34	Template:Flagicon Michael Caruso	Garry Rogers Motorsport	78	+9.3s	28	72
12	12	Template:Flagicon Andrew Jones	Brad Jones Racing	78	+13.6s	18	69
13	26	Template:Flagicon Marcus Marshall	Britek Motorsport	78	+14.1s	19	66
14	021	Template:Flagicon Kayne Scott	Team Kiwi Racing	78	+14.8s	22	63
15	6	Template:Flagicon Steven Richards	Ford Performance Racing	77	+1 lap	5	60
16	67	Template:Flagicon Paul Morris	Team Sirromet Wines	76	+2 laps	26	57
17	2	Template:Flagicon Mark Skaife	Holden Racing Team	73	+5 laps	9	54
18	111	Template:Flagicon Fabian Coulthard	Paul Cruickshank Racing	69	+9 laps	11	51
19	1	Template:Flagicon Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team	67	+11 laps	23	48
DNF	55	Template:Flagicon Tony D'Alberto	Rod Nash Racing	71	Suspension	17
DNF	16	Template:Flagicon Paul Dumbrell	HSV Dealer Team	66	Accident	24
DNF	4	Template:Flagicon James Courtney	Stone Brothers Racing	55	Accident	16
DNF	888	Template:Flagicon Craig Lowndes	Triple Eight Race Engineering	55	Accident	3
DNF	5	Template:Flagicon Mark Winterbottom	Ford Performance Racing	55	Accident	2
DNF	50	Template:Flagicon Andrew Thompson	Paul Weel Racing	46	Accident	20
DNF	11	Template:Flagicon Shane Price	Perkins Engineering	18	Engine	21
DNF	18	Template:Flagicon Will Davison	Dick Johnson Racing	5	Mechanical	7
DNF	39	Template:Flagicon Russell Ingall	Paul Morris Motorsport	2	Mechanical	14

Notes

Ulladulla driver Ashley Cooper was involved in a high-speed accident on Saturday morning, after lap 11 in the second race of the Fujitsu series, the lead support category at the Adelaide 500, which utilises older V8 Supercars retired from the main series teams. The accident occurred at the notorious Turn 8 after Cooper clipped the barrier inside of the corners apex unsettling the car for the right hand bend and the car hit the wall on the outside of the corner broadside on. Cooper died on 25 February due to injuries sustained in the crash.

Post race

Two incidents in the two races brought the attention of driving standards for the next round at Eastern Creek, the first was Jamie Whincup. During the first race he made contact with Mark Winterbottom with two laps to go. This gave Whincup the win and although race control looked at the incident, they decided that no action should be taken.

The second incident involved Craig Lowndes and James Courtney. On lap 56 Courtney was in second and Lowndes third. Coming into the hairpin (turn 9) Lowndes went straight down the inside of Courtney and going into turn 11 Courtney turned Lowndes around sending both into the wall. Mark Winterbottom was also caught up within the accident and all three were DNF'ed. The new Driving Standards Observer Tomas Mezera received plenty of criticism, because Lowndes already had done a similar move to Winterbottom and Lee Holdsworth a few laps before.

Standings

After Round 1 of 14

Pos	No	Name	Team	Points
1	88	Template:Flagicon Jamie Whincup	Triple Eight Race Engineering	300
2	33	Template:Flagicon Lee Holdsworth	Garry Rogers Motorsport	258
3	15	Template:Flagicon Rick Kelly	HSV Dealer Team	192
4	17	Template:Flagicon Steven Johnson	Dick Johnson Racing	186
5	7	Template:Flagicon Todd Kelly	Perkins Engineering	180

External links

• Clipsal 500 website
• Official timing and results