2008 Gulf Air Desert 400
| Event Information | ||||||||||||||
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| Round 12 of 14 in the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series | ||||||||||||||
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| Date | 6–8 November 2008 | |||||||||||||
| Location | Sakhir, Bahrain | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Bahrain International Circuit | |||||||||||||
| Weather | Fine | |||||||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||||||
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| Race 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Distance | 32 laps | 120 km | |
| Pole position |
Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering |
1:25.0415 | |
| Winner |
Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering |
50:29.8677 | |
| Race 2 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Distance | 32 laps | 120 km | |
| Winner |
Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering |
49:37.2508 | |
| Race 3 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Distance | 32 laps | 120 km | |
| Winner |
Jamie Whincup Triple Eight Race Engineering |
51:07.5065 | |
| Round Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First | 300 pts | ||
| Second | 264 pts | ||
| Third | 246 pts | ||
The 2008 Gulf Air Desert 400 was the twelfth round of the 2008 V8 Supercar season. It was held on the weekend of the 6 to 8 November at the Bahrain International Circuit in Bahrain.
Qualifying was held on Friday 7 November 2008.
Race 1 was held on Friday 7 November 2008. Whincup leapt away while a fierce dice erupted between Lowndes, Todd Kelly and Tander. A forceful move on the second lap saw Kelly muscle his way past Lowndes and Tander. Steven Johnson slipped into third behind Kelly as Tander and Lowndes were slow away from the hairpin. Further back in the pack a tangle saw Michael Patrizi and Mark Skaife spun backwards, also tangling with Michael Caruso, Jason Richards and Andrew Thompson, bringing out the safety car. Skaife, Richards and Patrizi had too much damage to continue.
At the restart Steven Johnson clawed into second briefly before dropping back behind Kelly again. Lowndes took third from Johnson. Lap 9 saw Whincup, Kelly, James Courtney and Russell Ingall to put of the front runners. The following lap saw Lowndes, Tander, Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom. A slow stop and exit saw Lowndes leap frog Kelly into second place. Tander moved into fourth ahead of Courtney while Davison pulled over at pit exit, overcome by fumes. Fabian Coulthard spun into the turn 4 sand trap after contact from Jason Bright, for which Bright later was given a drive-through penalty. The resultant safety car triggered Johnson's pitstop from the lead with Rick Kelly and Steven Richards also stopping.
At the restart Whincup, Lowndes and Todd Kelly leapt away while further back in the field on the second lap contact between Tander and Winterbottom saw Tander spun in front of the pack. Tander dropped to the tail of the field while Winterbottom was assigned a drive-through penalty. Coulthard stopped out on the track trying to limp a car home with a punctured front right tyre and Patrizi spun Jack Perkins around.
Paul Morris briefly held fourth on pit stop strategy but soon lost places to Lee Holdsworth, Courtney and team-mate Ingall. Todd Kelly was controversially given a drive-through penalty, taking away his, and the team's, best result of the season, for over-taking the safety car at its second deployment.
Team Vodafone continued on to claim a race 1-2, ahead of Holdsworth, Ingall, Courtney, Johnson, Shane Van Gisbergen, Steven Richards, Rick Kelly and Greg Murphy.
Race 2 was held on Saturday 8 November 2008. Whincup leap away with Ingall in pursuit ahead of battling pair Courtney and Lowndes with Johnson. Holdsworth overtook Van Gisbergen for sixth.
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