Whincup win helps Supercar title hopes

Jamie Whincup became the Pukekohe party pooper yesterday, much to the disappointment of the crowd of 39,224 wanting a Kiwi win.

The six-time Supercars champion won the 200km race, capturing the Jason Richards Trophy and extending his championship lead over Scott Mclaughlin.

With just one round of the championship to go, in Newcastle, Whincup has extended his lead in the championship to 30 points, with a maximum of 300 left up for grabs.

It means if Whincup is able to finish at least second in both races at Newcastle, or ahead of Mclaughlin he’ll take the title.

While Fabian Coulthard, Chaz Mostert and Shane van Gisbergen could still mathematically in the championship, realistically their title aspirations ended this weekend.

Yesterday’s race at Pukekohe Park Raceway lacked the drama of the previous day, when van Gisbergen won and it was something of a procession. Other than the cars being out of sequence because of refuelling, Whincup led for the entire race, with Mclaughlin second and never having a realistic opportunity to try to overtake Whincup.

Mark Winterbottom, Mostert and Cameron Waters all collided at the hairpin on the opening lap, with Winterbottom and Mostert affected the most and they were sent down the back of the pack.

On lap 18, there was a bizarre incident involving van Gisbergen. He came into the pit lane way quicker than Tim Slade and rammed into the back of him.

The bonnet of his car bent up so much that van Gisbergen couldn’t see his way into the garage and had to be guided in by his team over the radio.

The other damage was so severe that any hopes he had of retaining the Jason Richards Trophy had ended. It also meant there was no chance left of him retaining his Supercars title.