Jamie Whincup of Triple Eight Racing wins race 2 during the Falken Tasmania Challange, Round 13 of the Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series at the Symmons Plains, Launceston, Tasmania.
Ford's Jamie Whincup has one hand on the silverware after winning at Symmons Plains in northern Tasmania yesterday.
Whincup, 25, extended his championship lead to a commanding 233 points with the last round of the series to be held at Oran Park in two weeks.
His nearest challenger is Mark Winterbottom, who will be snapping at his rear bumper in another Ford. Whincup won both sprint races yesterday after finishing second on Saturday to Todd Kelly, in his Jack Daniel's Racing Holden.
“If this championship happens it's going to be a great team effort,” Whincup said.
“We're going to Oran Park in a fortnight needing about 70 points from a possible 300 to get the job done.
“I can't see why I can't do it. It's a track I really like to race, while I also want to round the year off as well as I can.”
Whincup's win in Tasmania yesterday was his fourth straight, a feat achieved by only six other drivers.
The finale at Oran Park, the last time cars will race at the track southwest of Sydney, comes down to a two-horse race, with Winterbottom the only driver who can catch Whincup. Defending champion Garth Tander dropped out of the title race after he could only manage eighth overall in another disappointing weeked for the Holden Racing team driver.
“We were hanging on by our fingernails coming into the round, but the championship's definitely over now,” Tander said.
But it wasn't all doom and gloom for Holden fans, with Kelly winning in the wet on the first day and two third placings, the best this season for the Jack Daniel's team.
The Oran Park round will also be Mark Skaife's last appearance in the championship series. ,p>
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