Jamie’s whinning ways
JAMIE Whincup continued his assault on the V8 record books yesterday when the Red Bull Holden Racing Team star flogged the field to become the driver with the most wins in the sport’s history.
Whincup passed Holden legend Craig Lowndes as the Supercars’ most successful driver when he floored his way home for a record-setting 106th win at Sydney Motorsport Park.
“The only problem is Lowndsey will out-drive me,’’ Whincup said.
“He will be driving for another 10 years.
‘‘I am not getting too excited with the numbers but it is certainly a good feeling to get the win today.’’
The win has kept Whincup in contention for an unprecedented seventh championship. The nine-second win over Fabian Coulthard, after driving a wounded Commodore to third on Saturday, put Whincup 12 points behind Scott McLaughlin in the title chase.
“It felt good,’’ Whincup admitted.
“I got a good start and the car was really good today.
“I pushed really hard and now it is a great feeling heading into the big endurance races.’’
Coulthard passed Shane Van Gisbergen late to stop a Red Bull double.
“I had a good battle with Shane and I ended up with a bit more tyre in hand,’’ Coulthard said.
Earlier, Scott McLaughlin beat Chaz Mostert for a record-equalling 13th season pole. Bouncing back from the race one shocker that reignited Penske’s Red Bull war, McLaughlin blasted a 1min 22.22sec lap to be alongside Whincup as the single-season qualifying record-holder.
“After yesterday I was pretty disappointed with myself and I just wanted to come out today and smash them,” McLaughlin said.
Whincup and Van Gisbergen followed Mostert home to set up a tussle with McLaughlin. But it was Prodrive racer Mostert who went to the front when the second instalment of the SuperSprint roared to life.
McLaughlin had a startline shocker, dropping from first place to fifth, to allow Mostert to take control as Whincup and Van Gisbergen followed.
Lowndes clobbered Cam Waters in the mid pack as Mostert went about putting a gap on Whincup following his perfect race start. Mostert was almost two seconds clear after five laps, the Falcon driver setting successive lap records. Whincup responded and was on Mostert’s tail by lap nine.
A blown tyre turned the race into a battle of the strategies when the rest of the field stopped on lap 11 after the safety car was called.
Van Gisbergen, Nick Percat and Coulthard began giving chase to Whincup, Mostert and McLaughlin.
It was hard-charging Van Gisbergen who won out after the final stop, the Kiwi shading Whincup. He emerged with less than a one-second margin over Whincup to make it a sprint to the line.