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MELBOURNE - Ford's Jamie Whincup has won the V8 Supercar racing best and fairest award, while the off-season driver-go-round is about to start with rumours new champion Garth Tander could be on the move.
Whincup earned some consolation tonight for narrowly missing out on the V8 Supercar championship to Holden driver Tander when he won the Barry Sheene Medal at a gala dinner at Melbourne's Crown Casino.
But much of the attention tonight has centred on possible team moves for 2008, with Tander and Holden Racing Team (HRT) driver Todd Kelly linked with moves to new teams.
Tander, who won his championship with the Toll-HSV Dealer Team, has been linked with a switch to join Mark Skaife at the Holden Racing Team for next season.
And Kelly, out of contract at HRT, has been linked with several rides for 2008, including a move to Ford to fill the seat at Stone Brothers Racing left vacant by Russell Ingall's departure.
There is also speculation Kelly could join his brother Rick at Toll-HSV should Tander move to HRT, in what would amount to a straight swap.
Ingall is set to be confirmed as a Holden driver within days, joining Paul Morris' Gold Coast-based team.
Rick Kelly won the title for Toll-HSV in 2006.
No change is expected at Ford's leading team Triple Eight Racing, with rising star Whincup adding to his growing reputation with his award win tonight.
The Barry Sheene Award, voted for on a round-by-round basis by motor sport media, is for the driver deemed to have best represented their sport on and off the track during the year.
Whincup produced his best ever season, rising from 10th in 2007 to second in the championship and winning his second successive Bathurst 1000 alongside Triple Eight teammate Craig Lowndes.
But it was his engaging persona and how he acquitted himself during the highs and lows of his season which also helped him earn the medal.
V8 Supercars chairman Tony Cochrane said Whincup was a thoroughly deserved winner of the award, in honour of the former motorcycle world champion.
The first winner of the Bathurst 1000 race, Harry Firth, was inducted into the sport's Hall of Fame.
Other V8 winners
Barry Sheene Medal: Jamie Whincup (Ford, Triple Eight Racing)
2007 V8 Supercar champion: Garth Tander (Holden, Toll-HSV Dealer Team)
Champion Team of the Year: Toll-HSV Dealer Team
Champion Manufacturer of the Year: Holden
Pole Position Award: Mark Winterbottom (Ford, Ford Performance Racing)
Best Presented Team: Jim Beam Racing
Event of the Year: Desert 400, Bahrain International Circuit
Hall of Fame: Harry Firth
V8 Supercars Australia Media Award: Stephen Ottley (Herald Sun)
Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series Champion: Tony D'Alberto (D'Alberto Racing)
Mike Kable Young Gun Award: Dale Wood (Greg Murphy Racing)
- AAP
