Whincup Runs Hot As Rivals Wilt

The Sunday Age

Sunday November 9, 2008

By MICHAEL LYNCH, BAHRAIN

TRIPLE Bathurst hero Jamie Whincup has put himself in a perfect position to claim his first V8 Supercar drivers crown after a dominant display in the opening two heats of the Desert 400 in Bahrain put him well clear of his nearest challengers, defending champion Garth Tander and fellow Ford driver Mark Winterbottom.

The Queensland-based Victorian has the title clearly in his grasp and while Ford Performance Racing's Winterbottom kept himself in with a rough chance after an impressive fourth place in the second race, it would seem only a loss of concentration on his part, or bad luck, will deny him the championship he came so close to winning last season.

"From here on in it's only our championship to lose," the 25-year-old Triple Eight Racing Falcon driver said after he posted an easy victory in the first of the three 32-lap races in this round.

"They have got to be doing something fairly dramatic to bridge the gap. They are going to have to go hard and all out to do so."

Whincup said he would have to temper his natural adventure with some caution for the remainder of the campaign because there was now too much to lose.

"I have a fairly 'win or bust' approach, but from here on in I would be silly not to change it," he said after beating home his teammate Craig Lowndes and Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden driver Lee Holdsworth early yesterday morning.

Last night his advantage was even greater after he led throughout to win the second race from veteran Russell Ingall in the Paul Morris Motorsport Commodore, with Lowndes back in third.

Winterbottom staged a gutsy recovery to move from 21st on the grid in race two to finish fifth, while Tander came from 14th to 11th.

Still, Winterbottom was not prepared to concede defeat even though he has a deficit of 167 points to make up on Whincup.

"Anything can happen in this sport. I am still in this battle, and I am not going to give up. We have got 700 points up for grabs and seven races still to come this season. I will dig deep in the last race here and in the three in Tasmania and the final round at Oran Park next month."

Tander, who now lags Whincup by 216, requires both his rivals to have disastrous final rounds to retain his crown.

If Whincup does go on to seal the title, he can look back on the first race in the desert as the defining event.

He came into this round with a healthy but not insurmountable advantage of 75 points over Winterbottom, with Holden Racing Team leader Tander 31 points behind Winterbottom and 106 behind Whincup.

The two challengers needed everything to go right, but things could not have gone more wrong.

While Whincup qualified on pole - for the fifth time this season - Tander could do no better than fifth and Winterbottom ninth.

As Whincup led from the start of the first heat Tander got off to a flyer and battled for second with Lowndes and Perkins Engineering's Todd Kelly on the opening lap, but that was as good as it got for the HRT man.

As Whincup controlled race-one proceedings, Winterbottom and Tander were desperately battling to fight their way through the field when the former made an audacious passing attempt down the inside only to crash into the latter.

Winterbottom received a drive-through penalty for his pains, which saw him finish 21st, while Tander's hopes were destroyed almost as much, as he recovered to take 14th position - enough to see him close the gap on Winterbottom, but not enough to make any ground on Whincup. In fact he fell further behind his Ford adversary.

"It could not have been much better for me from a championship point of view," a confident Whincup said. "When they told me Garth and Winterbottom had crashed into each other I was told, 'You would be an idiot to make a mistake now'."

Tander, however, had plenty to say about Winterbottom's manoeuvre which ultimately cost the pair.

"I haven't seen the vision, but from what I'm told he may have run out of brakes or something else ... maybe ability.

"He needs to learn if you want to fight for a championship you need to play percentages and that's not how you do it."

Winterbottom shot back: " If I had whacked him up the arse then it would be cut and dry but he was slow when I was trying to pass him. I tried my best to miss him."

DESERT 400

V8 Supercars Race 1

1. Jamie Whincup (Ford)

2. Craig Lowndes (Ford)

3. Lee Holdsworth (Holden)

Race 2

1. Jamie Whincup (Ford)

2. Russell Ingall (Holden)

3. Craig Lowndes (Ford)

© 2008 The Sunday Age

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