Jamie Whincup penalised after V8 adventure to America

THE V8 Supercars' American adventure has had its aftermath in the stewards' room.

THE V8 Supercars' American adventure has had its aftermath in the stewards' room.

Championship leader Jamie Whincup among three drivers penalised for rule breaches after the series of weekend races in Austin, Texas.

Whincup, who won three of the four races in the V8s' US debut, was stripped of 30 championship points along with Holden drivers Craig Lowndes and Fabian Coulthard.

After a marathon post-meeting hearing, the trio was found guilty of jumping the safety car in race three today at the Circuit of the Americas.

But Coulthard, who won the race, was allowed to keep the victory.

Lowndes finished second in the race and Whincup third, and their positions remained.

The docking of points made little difference to the championship standings, with Red Bull Racing's Whincup and Lowndes still running 1-2 in the title race after dominating in Texas.

Lockwood Racing's Coulthard virtually admitted the breach, but blamed it on a radio communications problem and said he attempted to redress the mistake by slowing up.

“I heard 'green flag go, go, go' over the radio and then 'no, no, no',” Coulthard said.

“I did the best I could but I admit I did accelerate away.

“But I tried to make it so we all bunched up again so I didn't get an unfair advantage.

“It was a radio communication problem within our team.

“We have had to change frequencies a few times over the weekend because there's been two people on my channel.”

On a weekend of resounding success for the sport's international expansion, as more than 68,000 fans attended over the three days, Whincup still increased his championship lead as Ford rival Will Davison had a difficult time.

Davison failed to finish the fourth race won by Whincup after an early tangle with Holden driver Scott McLaughlin wrecked the right side of his car.

He finished fourth, ninth and 12th in the weekend's other races.

That allowed Whincup, who won yesterday's two races, to skip away to a 142-point championship lead and Lowndes to leapfrog Davison for second place.

In a dismal weekend for Ford Performance Racing, Davison's teammate Mark Winterbottom had his hopes of winning race three cruelled by a botched pit stop.

The problem changing the rear tyre cost Winterbottom the race lead, and plunged him to seventh.

It followed a similar horror pit stop at the previous round in Perth which cost Winterbottom multiple positions.

AAP