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HomeNewsHIDDEN VALLEY’S RARE RESULT REPEAT

HIDDEN VALLEY’S RARE RESULT REPEAT

THE Sunday races at Hidden Valley accomplished a feat not seen in the Repco Supercars Championship in well over a decade.

The final two legs of the Darwin Triple Crown were won by Shane van Gisbergen with Will Davison following him home in second place on each occasion.

Third place went to Jamie Whincup both times, as did fourth place to Chaz Mostert.

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Remarkably, it’s the first time that the top four finishing positions have been filled by the same four drivers in the same order in consecutive races in over 12 years!

The last time it happened was at Symmons Plains in both its Sunday races in November 2008.

Highlighting just how long ago that was: Whincup was yet to win any of his seven championships, overall round wins were still being celebrated over individual race wins, Triple Eight was still a Ford team, and Perkins Engineering was still on the grid!

Todd Kelly won the opening race of the weekend and claimed a pair of thirds on Sunday. Pic: an1images.com / Dirk Klynsmith

On that occasion it was Whincup who claimed both races ahead of Craig Lowndes in a pair of one-two finishes for Triple Eight.

Both third placings went to Todd Kelly and were results that, off the back of his win in the Saturday race, secured the final ATCC/SC podium finish for Perkins Engineering.

The VE Commodore that Kelly drove is among those whose full history will be covered in our upcoming book Perkins Engineering: The Cars 1986-2008, covering every single Holden touring car built by the squad.

Limited to 2500 books and with over half the print run already sold, click HERE to secure your copy in the V8 Sleuth Bookshop.

Mark Winterbottom was the driver to come home fourth in both races, results that saw a maiden championship title slip further out of the Ford Performance Racing driver’s grasp.

Whincup’s overall round win extended his points lead over Winterbottom by 46 points to give him a nearly uncatchable 233-point lead with one round remaining.

History shows that Whincup secured his maiden crown in the opening race at Oran Park as the south-western Sydney venue hosted the championship for the final time before its closure.

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