All eyes on Sydney NRMA 500 for V8 Supercars Champion elect Jamie Whincup
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| Jamie Whincup |
V8 Supercars Champion elect Jamie Whincup plans to finish the season by extending his winning margin and refusing to take his foot of the accelerator.
Whincup is more points ahead than he needs to claim the Championship crown at the Sydney NRMA 500 in a fortnight when he takes on Marcos Ambrose on the streets of Olympic Park.
He cemented a second half of the season recovery mission, having once trailed Pepsi Max FPRs Mark Winterbottom by more than 200 points, with an unforgiving assault as his rivals fell away.
"No disrespect to the other Championships – they've been solid dogfights right to the end – but this one has thrown massive challenges in front of us," said Whincup.
"We were in a bit of a mid-season slump, but Frosty (Winterbottom) was 100 points ahead and so fast in the Sunday races, especially on the soft tire and we were pretty much off the ball.
"As I said coming into Phillip Island win lose or draw, we're proud of the way we turned things around. It's been the fourth or fifth time we've been behind the ball and been able to pick it back up.
"That doesn't come easily, that comes from a lot of grinding going on behind the scenes so I couldn't be prouder of the crew and what it had become."
Whincup continued that astonishing turnaround at the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400 today when he may have been forgiven for wobbling around and protecting his healthy margin.
Instead, he stamped Red Bull Racing Australia's authority with two smashing drives for third and first, making it very clear he is in no mood to back off.
"It's a bit of a weird feeling because there's so much pride on the line tomorrow and at Sydney," he said. "I wish I could start the celebrations now but we certainly don't want to let ourselves down come the last three races."
With his sixth Championship ahead of him in Sydney, Whincup will become the greatest Champion in the history of Australian touring cars ahead of the late Ian ‘Pete' Geoghegan, Dick Johnson and Mark Skaife who all claimed five crowns across three different eras.
"I was happy with one, then three was out of control, and the rest was sort of a bonus," he said.
"As I said, it's a weird feeling, I can't describe it at the moment, but it's one of those things I'm sure will mean everything when I hang the helmet – hopefully a long time in the future.
"When you're in the heat of the battle it's one race at a time, you're just focusing on tomorrow. There's no way that number has sunk in yet, but I'm sure it will probably a long time in the future."
Whincup finished third to Lowndes and Volvo's 2015 challenger Scott McLaughlin in the opening 100km fixture before sealing the deal by winning the second from Lowndes and Winterbottom.
Whincup started on the front row alongside main title rival Winterbottom, and while the Ford driver got the jump off the start, four laps complete and Whincup was out in clean air.
From there he led a flawless race, earning the points to create a 461 point gap – with only 450 left to be awarded this season. He will be awarded the Championship trophy at the V8 Supercars grand finale in Sydney next month.
All eyes were on the Red Bulls, as Lowndes also battles to move up to second in the title fight before the final event next month.
"It's been a great day. I think the main focus for the team was to clinch that Championship," Lowndes said.
"Jamie did a great job – he was going to be hard to beat that race, we pushed him all the way to the end… to win a Championship with a win shows his credibility and commitment."
Holden Racing Team's Tander notched up his second fourth-place finish for the day ahead of Kelly, with Race 33 winner Scott McLaughlin sixth, and Michael Caruso, Rick Kelly, Chaz Mostert and Nick Percat cracking the top 10.
McLaughlin held Craig Lowndes at bay to take the first race of the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400.
Starting from ARMOR ALL Pole Position, the Volvo driver led from start to finish, holding off the current driver with the most wins at the 4.445km circuit in Lowndes.
Whincup tucked in behind, managing to hold off a late charging Tander.
It was the first race that effectively ended Winterbottom's fight when he ran off-track and had to pit to remove a clump of grass from the car's air intake.