Whincup's 124th victory: Race 25 takeaways

Jamie Whincup ended the ARMOR ALL Sydney SuperNight with victory under lights and in the pouring rain.

Race 25 marked Whincup's second win of 2021, and first since Race 7 at the Beaurepaires Tasmania SuperSprint in April.

Whincup ended an 18-race winless streak to claim a record-extending 124th career victory.

It was the Red Bull Ampol Racing driver's fifth win at Sydney Motorsport Park, and first since 2017.

Whincup won the truncated race from sixth on the grid. It was just the third time in his career he won a race from sixth.

He won the 2006 and 2007 Bathurst 1000s with Craig Lowndes after starting sixth.

It was also the first time Whincup won a race from lower than second since the 2017 Newcastle finale, the race in which he clinched his seventh drivers' title.

Whincup slashed Shane van Gisbergen's series lead to 337 points, with van Gisbergen only 23rd.

Whincup also claimed fastest lap bonus points with a 1:42.569s on lap 10.

Only Whincup and second-placed Anton De Pasquale set lap times in the 1:42s bracket.

Van Gisbergen recorded his lowest classified race finish since he finished 25th and a lap off the pace in Tasmania in 2018.

It was only the second time in 2021 that van Gisbergen finished outside the top 10; his last came in the Darwin opener.

That Darwin race was won by Chaz Mostert, who raced from 26th to third in Sunday's race.

Mostert gained 23 positions in the race, having been excluded from the Race 25 qualifying results.

The race featured two BP Ultimate Safety Car deployments. It was the first Safety Car deployment in a race since the Darwin opener in June.

It was also the first race to feature multiple Safety Car deployments since last year's Bathurst 1000.

The season will resume next weekend with the BP Ultimate Sydney SuperSprint. Tickets for all Sydney events are on sale now.