Motorsport: Whincup up for a battle to close gap

Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen will be chomping at the bit to stand on top of the podium for the first time. Photo / Alan Gibson

The Australian V8 Supercar circus arrives in the northern Queensland outpost of Townsville this weekend for round eight of the 14-event series. This is the last chance fans will have to follow the nip-and-tuck of this year's racing before the drivers and teams take a well-deserved nine-week break from racing.

Two-time champion TeamVodafone driver Jamie Whincup has not had it all his own way, with Jim Beam Racing pilot James Courtney passing him on the points table to lead the championship.

Whincup fought back at the last round in Darwin to close the gap to 57 points but will have a battle on his hands in Townsville as Courtney won the Sunday race in 2009. Whincup took line honours in Saturday's race, but only because Courtney's engine expired.

"We're feeling good but are by no means over-confident. We've got a good, strong car and I'll be going hard at it," said Whincup. "We're coming here well prepared and I feel strong physically and it's all about getting out there and battling on.

"We've done some pretty good stuff this year in a brand new car. We couldn't be happier with the start to the season and we've been strong on most occasions but we've just had a few mechanical failures due to a change of manufacturer. We're just trying to learn about the new car and we're confident we can do a good job this weekend."

Young Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen continues to show he's more than qualified to be mixing it with more established drivers and has cemented himself in the top five behind Craig Lowndes, Whincup and Courtney. He'll be chomping at the bit to stand on top of the podium for the first time after a string of third places including last time out in Darwin.

"I'll never get sick of coming third. A podium is an awesome achievement," said Van Gisbergen. "I know a race win is close for us but we aren't rushing things, we just need to qualify a bit better."

After a rocky start to the season, where he scored just 27 points in the opening round in Abu Dhabi, Toll Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander has had his tail feathers flying high of late. He's steadily moved up the table to sit comfortably in sixth and, as the lap record holder, will be hard to beat.

Ford Performance Racing is back on track after Mark Winterbottom scored the first win of the season for the team and it's just the tonic needed heading to Townsville. Winterbottom, fifth on the table, will want a repeat of last time out to launch an assault on the series leaders.

"A win in Darwin was exactly what we needed," said Winterbottom. "We've worked so hard this year to get things where they are now ... and I'm really understanding the way (the car) behaves; it's far more predictable now, which is the way it should be, so hopefully we'll be up the front again this weekend," said Winterbottom.

Van Gisbergen is by far the best of the Kiwi drivers but Jason Richards' season may just be turning around. After a slow start to the season, where his car showed flashes of speed but let him down during the race, Darwin was a turning point for him and the team.

Richards set pole last year at the Northern Territory event and was again fastest in qualifying. He went to post his best results for the season with a fourth and a seventh to move to 12th in the championship.

"I'm pretty pumped heading to Townsville. We were strong here last year and I qualified sixth for the first race," said Richards. "In Darwin, we learned we had a very fast race car and I hope we can keep improving it for this weekend.

"We need to get more runs on the board and also improve our qualifying performance to really be there. We don't want to be a one-shot wonder. We want to be consistent week after week on different tracks, different surfaces, whether they be bumpy or smooth."

V8 SUPERCAR POINTS
1 James Courtney...1698
2 Jamie Whincup...1641
3 Craig Lowndes...1452
4 Shane van Gisbergen...1412
5 Mark Winterbottom...1344
6 Garth Tander...1242
7 Rick Kelly...1226
8 Lee Holdsworth...1218