Falcon driver Jamie Whincup edged closer to his first Australian V8 Supercar championship despite finishing second to Holden’s Todd Kelly at a wet and windy Symmonns Plains Raceway in Tasmania.

Starting from the front row Whincup led early but was soon under pressure from main title rival Holden’s Garth Tander as rain began to sweep the Northern Tasmanian track.

Tander ran off the track in the tricky conditions and stalled leaving Kelly as Holden’s main contender against the fast Fords of Whincup and Mark Winterbottom.

Kelly drove brilliantly in the terrible conditions coming from way back in the pack to be challenging for the lead within a few laps.

After changing to wets Kelly stormed through the field again to take the lead for good on lap 35.

After the race an emotional Kelly, who leaves the Perkins team at the end of the year, described the race as one of his best ever.

“It’s pretty special, I don’t think anyone can understand that without knowing what it’s taken to get to this point,“ he said.  …”I’ve just given it everything I’ve got to try to make it happen.”

For Whincup, second was enough to all but assure him of the 2008 title despite there still being two races tomorrow and one full round to go at Sydney’s Oran Park in two weeks time.

Before the race Whincup had signalled his intention to drive with his head and concentrate on the big picture of the championship and not each individual little race.

But following the race he admitted that come the first corner most of that planning went out the window.

“It wasn’t really conservative, I was going pretty hard,“ Whincup said.

Testimony to his hard charging was the contact with Winterbottom whose car sustained minor steering damage early in the race.

“We had the right strategy and the right car to win” said Winterbottom “but Jamie and I banged wheels and bent the steering quite badly.”

Winterbottom also took time out to signal his displeasure with Garry Rogers Motorsport driver Lee Holdsworth.

“he (Holdsworth) was racing like a lunatic at the start of the race and drove straight into the back of me.” he said.

Races two and three will be held tomorrow (Sunday) with more wild weather expected.