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| Round 4 of 14 in the2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series | ||||||||||||||
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| Date | 9–11 May 2008 | |||||||||||||
| Location | Perth, Western Australia | |||||||||||||
| Venue | Barbagallo Raceway | |||||||||||||
| Weather | Fine | |||||||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||||||
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The2008 BigPond 400 was the fourth round of the2008 V8 Supercar season. It was held on the weekend of 9 to 11 May atBarbagallo Raceway inWanneroo, north ofPerth, Western Australia.
Qualifying was held on Saturday 10 May.Mark Winterbottom snatched pole position away fromMark Skaife in the final seconds of qualifying, which had to that point looked like an all-Holden Racing Team front row withGarth Tander just behind his teammate.Craig Lowndes qualified fourth forTriple Eight Race Engineering.James Courtney debuted a newStone Brothers Racing Falcon in fifth place.Todd Kelly likewise made a stellar debut with a new car, qualifying eighth.Jamie Whincup racing the repaired Craig Lowndes car from theClipsal 500 was a disappointing 22nd, starting alongside fellow points front runnerLee Holdsworth.
Race 1 was held on Saturday 10 May.Mark Winterbottom took his second race victory of the year, a surprisingly comfortable win ahead of theHRT pair ofMark Skaife andGarth Tander. Tander was pushed hard bySteven Richards andCraig Lowndes. A collision at race start sawJason Bright touchGreg Murphy who in turn made contact withMichael Caruso, sending Bright and Caruso out of control towards turn 7, where crossing the track Caruso struckShane van Gisbergen. The incident triggered a safety car.Jamie Whincup andWill Davison charged through to seventh and eight positions from poor qualifying places.James Courtney was fighting amongst that group but fading rear tyres led Courtney to attempt defensive moves that raised the ire of race control, leading to first thebad sportsmanship flag, then ablack flag drive through penalty which dropped him down field.
Race 2 was held on Sunday 11 May. Winterbottom backed it up with a second race victory, pushed all the way by Garth Tander.Jason Richards missed the start with engine problems. A slow start fromMark Skaife off the front row saw a collision withSteven Richards at turn 3 of the first lap. Skaife broadsided the wall but Richards attempted to continue with a punctured left rear tyre, limping back to the pits.Russell Ingall result was caused by a drive-through penalty for pit-lane speeding.Lee Holdsworth was pinged for a drive-through for an unsafe pitstop release, emerging onto the track as rain began to fall and made contact withPaul Dumbrell.Cameron McConville slithered into the stopped cars. Ingall, likewise put down-field by his penalty stop damaged his steering in a clash with race leaderJamie Whincup as Ingall was being lapped. Ingall later picked up a $5,000 fine for careless driving.[1] Whincup stayed out during the brief rain squall, and took advantage of being able to pitstop at a better time, jumping back into the field in third place, right in front of teammate Craig Lowndes, theTriple Eight Race Engineering pair race to the finish together. James Courtney recovered from race 1 dramas to finish seventh while Steven Richards recovered to ninth position falling just short of overtaking Todd Kelly. Shane van Gisbergen's repaired Falcon just made the top ten.
Race 3 was held on Sunday 11 May. An early race clash betweenRussell Ingall andJason Richards, saw Richards into the pits with a front left puncture and a flapping door for Ingall. Ingall then subsequently picked up his second pit lane speeding infringement of the weekend.
Results as follows:[2]
After round 4 of 14
| Pos | No | Name | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | 896 |
| 2 | 15 | Rick Kelly | HSV Dealer Team | 882 |
| 3 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Performance Racing | 872 |
| 4 | 88 | Jamie Whincup | Triple Eight Race Engineering | 776 |
| 5 | 6 |  Steven Richards | Ford Performance Racing | 721 |
The2008 BigPond 400 had four support categories.
| Category | Round winner |
|---|---|
| Australian Carrera Cup Championship | Craig Baird (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) |
| V8 Utes | Grant Johnson (Holden VE Ute SS) |
| Mini Challenge Australia | Damien White (Mini Cooper S) |
| Historic Touring Cars | Paul Stubber (Chevrolet Camaro) |
| Supercars Championship | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous race: 2008 Hamilton 400 | 2008 Supercars Championship | Next race: 2008 Midas 400 |
| Previous year: 2007 BigPond 400 | BigPond 400 | Next year: 2009 BigPond 300 |
