Motorsport: Five in with a chance of V8 glory

James Courtney drives his Ford qualifying for round 10 of the V8 Supercars Championship Series at Bathurst. Photo / Getty Images

The Australian V8 Supercar penultimate round at Sandown Raceway, Victoria, is shaping up just like the Formula One series did with two rounds to go. Like the F1 race for the drivers title which went down to the wire, there are five V8 pilots in with a chance to win the 2010 championship.

With 600 points on offer over the next four races and 334 points separating the top five contenders, it'll be game on this weekend to see who's going to head to Sydney for the Telstra 500 with the bragging rights.

James Courtney is the leading contender with defending champion Jamie Whincup breathing down his neck just 50 points back. Mark Winterbottom is making a late run and sits in third just one race win (150 points) behind Whincup but only 57 points in front of Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes. A resurgent Garth Tander is poised within striking distance of the top four.

There is a mathematical chance young Kiwi driver Shane Van Gisbergen could upset the applecart and win the championship over the next rounds. However, for that to realistically happen the top three drivers would have to be beamed up by aliens and never be seen again.

"We got gapped a bit on the weekend [Tasmania] especially by Tander and Winterbottom. We can close on those two but there's not a chance of catching the others," said Van Gisbergen.

"There's no chance of winning the thing really but getting fourth and even third is a possibility. There's a lot of points up for grabs and it'll definitely be all on at the pointy end of the race."

Van Gisbergen will want to atone for a miserable weekend in Tasmania when nothing seemed to go his, or his Stone Brothers Racing team's way.

"That's normally a race we do half all right at," he said. "It was just frustrating. We didn't have the speed in qualifying and in the races we just couldn't get the best out of the new tyres.

"It was even worse in the wet and I hope it doesn't rain this weekend as the car's not as good in the wet as it was last year. I'm really looking forward to this weekend and I hope we can get the momentum going again and get some results. We need to finish the year off strongly."

While the young Kiwi is keen to finish the season well and try for his first race win, series leader Courtney has more on his mind - staving off Whincup and the others in an effort to win his first title.

"We've had a few calls not go our way this year, as has Jamie [Whincup] and Craig [Lowndes], so it'll be pretty exciting over the next few races," said Courtney. "We've had a good package and we were second at Sandown last year and won at Homebush.

"It's going to be a great fight to the end and the run-in is going to be good for us going on previous form. I'm not going to worry about the other blokes, just concentrate on doing my own thing, as that's hard enough as it is."

Courtney is fast, but he has been a bit erratic in the past and put a few noses out of joint with some of his race craft. This year he's found consistency, and a certain maturity in his racing.

"The car's nearly two years old and we've hardly done much to develop the car. The good thing about that is we know what we've got and I feel comfortable pushing it a bit because I know what it does and I've got a great engineer," he said.

"I've been called a few names in the past but everyone evolves over the years and I've learnt from my mistakes and I'm always ready to learn and take constructive criticism."

Points

1. James Courtney - 2662
2. Jamie Whincup - 2612
3. Mark Winterbottom - 2462
4. Craig Lowndes - 2405
5. Garth Tander - 2328
6. Shane Van Gisbergen - 2178