Motorsport: Pressure high for Whincup

Jamie Whincup of Triple Eight Ford powers through a chicane at the Hamilton 400 V8 racing in Hamilton. Photo / Alan Gibson

The first of the two Australian V8 Supercar endurance rounds roars into action this weekend at Phillip Island near Melbourne and defending V8 champion Jamie Whincup is in a determined mood.

He still has a bitter taste in his mouth after gifting Holden Racing Team drivers, Mark Skaife and Garth Tander, the event last year after he ran off the track with five laps to go.

Just how fired up the Triple Eight team of Whincup and Craig Lowndes is to win this time around, is evident in their deliberately blowing up engines. Although the team had found the cause of their recent engine failures, they wanted to double-check the problem had been sorted before embarking on the two very long endurance races.

"We're full steam ahead to win the championship but we've had a pretty bad engine problem at the last round," said Whincup. "To find out what the problem was we had to do a fair amount of damage to another engine. Very costly, but we got to the bottom of it - we were getting really low oil pressure but it's all fixed now.

"We're going into the race very confident without doubt. The car's very quick and we've got a fantastic team underneath us. History shows we've had some fantastic results at endurance races but sometimes history means nothing and we'll just be putting our best foot forward."

Most people will have their eyes on the Vodafone pairing and Tander and his new team-mate Will Davison. Whincup and Lowndes are first and fourth in the championship, with Davison and Tander second and third, but there are a number of other pairings who will be strong.

Chief among them will be Greg Murphy and Mark Skaife in the Sprint Gas Holden. Five-time V8 champion Skaife returns to racing this weekend and is a seven-time winner at the iconic Victorian circuit.

"Next to Bathurst, which is in a league of its own, the Island offers drivers the most challenging race environment in the country and brings back some great memories for me," said Skaife.

"With Greg Murphy and myself behind the wheel I'd like to think that we could be a chance of adding to the win list. But no doubt there's others with the same idea so we'll see how everything pans out on the day," he continued.

Murphy has had more downs than ups this season and seeks a change in fortunes to salvage something from a horror year. Last time out in an enduro, Murphy and Jason Richards finished a close second to Whincup and Lowndes at Bathurst in 2008.

"I'm looking forward to Phillip Island but more importantly to being competitive," said Murphy. "If the car is competitive it's up to Mark and I to do our job. It's going to sound a bit like Groundhog Day as I've said it heaps before, but we tested recently and came away happy, thinking we're going in the right direction."

Another pairing flying just under the radar is Richards and new team-mate Cameron McConville in the Team BOC car.

"I can only think we'll go reasonably good this weekend," said Richards. "Murph and Skaifey probably have the most starts between them but Cam and I would be next. These longer races really suit us."

There's a debutant Kiwi pairing at Stone Brothers Racing in former NZV8 champion John McIntyre and former Porsche GT3, now Fujitsu Development series racer Daniel Gaunt.

Keep an eye on the number 333 Wilson Security Racing number two car as it will be the first time a woman, Leanne Tander (paired with David Wall), will start in the main game of V8 Supercar racing.

Highest-placed Kiwi on the point's table, Fabian Coulthard, is paired with another youngster, Michael Patrizi in the number one WSR car.

POINTS

Jamie Whincup - 2007
Will Davison - 1824
Garth Tander - 1479
Craig Lowndes - 1478
Steven Johnson - 1374
Mark Winterbottom - 1332
Lee Holdsworth - 1269