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V8 LAP RECORD TUMBLES AT PHILLIP ISLAND
He chased down the fast-starting Matthew White in the early laps eventually making the move to take the lead at the start of lap four.
Simpson led White home by 2.57s at the end and set a new lap record of 1m33.6832s ripping nearly four seconds from the existing record of 1m37.5416s set by Justin Garioch in 2011.
The new lap record is just two-tenths of a second slower than Craig Lowndes Phillip Island V8 Supercar record set last year.
Ironically Simpsons car is one of Lowndes ex-Vodafone Falcon BFs from the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series.
The win was Simpsons fifth straight race win in the Kumho Series one more in tomorrows opening race will tie him with Josh Hunter for the series record of most consecutive race wins.
501 Performance driver Tony Evangelou finished third holding off series leader Shae Davies on the final lap.
The young Queenslander was forced to fight back through the field after stalling at the start and led home Terry Wyhoon to the line. Nathan Assaillit finished sixth clear of Steve Briffa Matt Hansen Matthew Palmer and Michael Hector.
Racing will continue tomorrow at Phillip Island with Race 2 at 12.25pm EST and Race 3 to complete the round at 3.05pm EST.
Live streaming coverage will be available on Sunday at www.thenationals.com.au with television coverage on SBS Speedweek on Sunday October 6 and a one-hour program on SPEED on Foxtel at a later date.
