Motorsport: Whincup win places one hand on championship

Jamie Whincup driver of the #88 Team Vodafone Holden celebrates after winning race 26 the Sandown Challenge. Photo / Getty Images

This year's V8 Supercar championship is Jamie Whincup's to lose.

Holden's Whincup goes into the final two races of the year in Sydney next month with a 188-point lead over Vodafone teammate Craig Lowndes after victory at Sandown Raceway on Sunday.

With 150 points on offer to each race winner in Sydney, Whincup needs only to hold a 151-point lead over Lowndes after the opening race there to secure his third V8 championship.

That means finishing either ahead of Lowndes or within sight of him.

Whincup's win on Sunday was set up by grabbing pole position during the morning qualifying session, while Lowndes could manage only fourth fastest.

In a race held in dry conditions with few incidents, that meant Whincup had a clear track and the most effective of Team Vodafone's pit strategies.

Lowndes was forced to pit early under the alternative strategy and hope for a change in circumstances that never arrived as he finished fourth.

Whincup was able to control the race and beat Ford Performance Racing duo Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison for his 10th and most important race victory of the year.

The conditions were a far cry from Saturday's rain-swept race won by Holden's Rick Kelly.

In that race, Whincup struggled to finish 13th and Lowndes produced a stellar drive for sixth from the back of the grid to keep his title hopes alive.

The Sydney races are on a street circuit at the Olympic precinct on December 3-4.

- AAP