Motorsport: Whincup looks to extend lead at top

Jamie Whincup has stretched his V8 Supercar lead to 122 points. Photo / Getty Images

TeamVodafone's Jamie Whincup heads to the penultimate Australian V8 Supercar round, at Barbagallo Raceway Perth, having stretched his lead to 122 points at the previous round at Phillip Island. The chasing pack had been closing the gap on Whincup of late but he's regained the initiative.

Whincup will not, however, be able to take his eyes off the rear vision mirror just yet. There are 300 points up for grabs this weekend, as well as another 300 at the final round on the streets of Sydney, so Will Davison will be under the pump to snatch as many as he can.

The resurgent Garth Tander, in third place on the table, still has a mathematical chance of stealing the championship but is realistic he's not going to win the title this year. With the quality of the field being such that just a second often covers the top 15 qualifiers, the chances of picking up 340 points over four races is nigh on impossible.

The circuit will cause chaos to the soft sprint tyres being used for the last time this year. Mark Winterbottom, who won all three races at the Western Australian track last year, said: "There is sand everywhere and when the wind blows it on to the track the surface gets very abrasive".

Young Kiwi driver Shane van Gisbergen is looking to build on his best result so far this season - fourth overall at Phillip Island - and could conceivably move into the top 10 in the championship.

"The plan's definitely to keep the momentum from Phillip Island going," he said. "We had a great weekend there and if we can qualify well and get a good run in both races at Barbagallo there's no reason why we can't end up in the top five or six again."

POINTS

1 Jamie Whincup - 2905
2 Will Davison - 2783
3 Garth Tander - 2565
4 Craig Lowndes - 2292
5 Mark Winterbottom - 1964
6 Steven Johnson - 1961
7 Rick Kelly - 1925
8 Lee Holdsworth - 1817
9 James Courtney - 1790
10 Russell Ingall - 1676
11 Shane Van Gisbergen - 1664