MOTORSPORT: Whincup weekend in Sydney

It was Jamie Whincup Weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Not only did his Sunday Virgin Australia Supercars Championship win at the Sydney circuit yesterday re-energise the battle for the title with Scott McLaughlin, it also put him at the top of the all-time victory list for the category.

Whincup’s 106th win edged the 34-year-old one clear of Triple Eight Race Engineering teammate Craig Lowndes. It also means the six-time titleholder has more championships, more race wins and more pole positons than any other driver in Supercars/Australian touring car history.

“The only problem is Lowndsey will out-drive me, he will be around for another 10 years at least,” Whincup said. “I am not getting too excited by the numbers but it was certainly good to get a win.”

Whincup’s weekend wasn’t without some good fortune. In Saturday’s 120km opener he finished third in a car with a bonnet so crumpled he admitted he couldn’t see where he was going much of the time.

He copped that damage after his Red Bull Holden Racing Team teammate Shane van Gisbergen and McLaughlin had two controversial clashes within seconds during and following a safety car restart.

First van Gisbergen overlapped too soon and the two cars bumped twice in the run down the straight, then McLaughlin tapped the 2016 champion into a spin at Turn 2, leaving Whincup and David Reynolds nowhere to go and suffering significant damage.

The wash-up of the push and shove between the two Kiwis didn’t play out fully until the next day, when they were penalised 33 seconds each, equivalent to a pitlane drive-through penalty, sending them tumbling down the order from second to 10th and finally 21st (McLaughlin) and 15th to 23rd (van Gisbergen).

In Sunday’s 200km race the defining moment came when van Gisbergen allowed his faster teammate by into the lead with 10 laps to go and then played tail-gunner, holding off McLaughlin and his DJR Team Penske teammate Fabian Coulthard in a battle that became increasingly ferocious.

If SvG hadn’t done the team thing and let Whincup by in the faster Holden Commodore to skip away to the win, both of them might have been swamped by the onrushing Shell V-Power Falcons, as well as the Supercheap Falcon of Chaz Mostert, which like Coulthard was on much fresher and faster Dunlop rubber.

“I knew it was going to be a good battle at the end but thanks to my teammate we look after each other at Red Bull,” said Whincup. “I thought if Fabs and Chaz got through earlier it would have been on so I put my head down and pushed hard. It’s a good feeling heading into the big season of endurance.”

In the end, McLaughlin emerged from the weekend with his championship lead over Whincup reduced from 129 to just 12 points. Coulthard also closed in to trail by 107 points after winning on Saturday and following up with second on Sunday.

Mostert was also a solid achiever on the weekend, claiming second and fifth places to close the gap to McLaughlin to under the 300-point benchmark.

For McLaughlin, this was his first weekend off the podium in five championship events. He still managed to claim both pole positions, his 12th 13th of the season – equalling Whincup’s season record in the process – but was poor off the startline in both races.

“I need to work on my starts -- they’re my biggest issue right now,” he said.

Heading into the Pirtek Enduro Cup, the Sydney results leave the championship open for any one of the Red Bull and DJRTP cars, along with Mostert’s Prodrive Falcon, to step up and claim the championship.

There are 900 points up for grabs across the four races that comprise the co-driver enduros, with October’s Bathurst 1000 as its centrepiece.

The rest of the field looks like it will be scrapping it out for the minors. Scott Pye delivered some cheer to Walkinshaw Racing with fifth on Saturday, while sixth on Sunday for Nick Percat continued Brad Jones Racing’s recent top 10 pace.

Michael Caruso reminded us of his strong 2016 form with a 6-7 result for Nissan Motorsport, while Todd Kelly scored 10th on Sunday in the carsales.com.au Altima.

His brother Rick didn’t go so well, suffering a right-rear tyre failure on pit straight that destroyed the rear bodywork of his car, nearly pitched him into the wall and brought out the safety car so debris could be cleared up.

Several others, including Todd Kelly on Saturday, had blowouts over the weekend as the new-construction Dunlops continued to have sudden failures.

Virgin Australia Supercars Championship pointscore:
1. Scott McLaughlin Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Falcon FG X 2058
2. Jamie Whincup Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF 2046
3. Fabian Coulthard Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Falcon FG X 1951
4. Shane van Gisbergen Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF 1800
5. Chaz Mostert Supercheap Auto Racing Ford Falcon FG X 1794
6. Mark Winterbottom The Bottle-O Racing Team Ford Falcon FG X 1503
7. Craig Lowndes Team Vortex Holden Commodore VF 1446
8. David Reynolds Erebus Penrite Racing Holden Commodore VF 1395
9. Garth Tander Wilson Security Racing GRM Holden Commodore VF 1212
10. Cameron Waters Monster Energy Racing Ford Falcon FG X 1264