PHILLIP ISLAND, Victoria, Australia — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — V8SC photo —
Jamie Whincup knew the only 100% guarantee he had of locking up his record-breaking sixth V8 Supercars Championship crown on Saturday was by winning Race 34 at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit during Day One of the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400.
So that’s exactly what he did.
Whincup, who started on ARMOR ALL pole position, lost the lead in the first corner but fought back in turn two on lap four to snatch the lead away from championship rival Mark Winterbottom and never looked back from there, despite the fact that the pair started on the front row.
The Red Bull Racing Holden Commodore, appropriately numbered No. 1, rocketed away from teammate Craig Lowndes over the closing stages of the 100 km sprint to claim his 12th victory of the 2014 championship and extend his points lead to 461 markers over Winterbottom.
The victory is Whincup’s 87th career series victory and the gap gives Whincup the title of champion-elect (due to the potential of penalties before the conclusion of the final round). The championship run places him alone at the top of Australian motorsport as the category’s new king with his sixth title, breaking a tie with legends Dick Johnson, Ian Geoghegan and Mark Skaife.
“It’s all a bit emotional down here as you can imagine. As I said earlier, there’s still a lot of pride on the line from here to the end. I think points wise it’s all done but we’ll keep our heads down and make sure we finish off the year as well as we possibly can,” Whincup said at the end of the race. “That trophy is going to be sweet at the end of the year.”
Whincup said despite the scenarios coming into the season and the weekend, there wasn’t any added weight on his shoulders.
“There’s no more pressure than what I put on myself but just proud of the collective group. About 95 percent of them have been with me for the whole six championships and they gave me another rocket tonight. It’s a bit of a fairy tale really to win the race and win the Championship.”
Lowndes finished second in his quest to move up to second in the championship standings, defending his teammate all the way as Winterbottom fell back to third after the first quarter of the event.
“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 on a [race] win shows his credibility and commitment to what he wants to do.”
Frosty held onto third at the checkered flag, with Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander taking his second fourth-place finish of the day. Todd Kelly finished fifth to notch his first top five since the Norton 360 Sandown Challenge in November of 2011.
Tander and Kelly staged a thrilling side-by-side battle for fourth midway through the race that was one of the major highlights of the event.
Race 33 winner Scott McLaughlin, Michael Caruso, Rick Kelly, Chaz Mostert and Nick Percat made up the rest of the top 10.
Red Bull Racing Australia team boss Roland Dane was emotional after the victory and praised the level of competition in V8 Supercars.
“The level of competition keeps increasing,” Dane pointed out. “This year we’ve had a fight-back from a lean spell, and the level of competition is intense now… to come out on top again is a testament to the amount of work these guys do.”
The V8 Supercars return to the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400 tomorrow for qualifying and 200 km of racing in the event finale, Race 35 of the V8 Supercars Championship.
