Asian Motor Sports

Champion-elect Jamie Whincup was left physically and mentally exhausted after one of the most grueling V8 Supercar Championship races of the year as he took the crown in the penultimate race of the title fight at the huge Sydney Telstra 500 Saturday.

In front of a massive crowd of 71,000 people – making the total in just two days 123,000 people through the gates – Whincup sealed the deal with fourth position today when Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander took the first Sydney Telstra 500 trophy in history.

Tander won today from Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom and Fujitsu Racing’s Jason Bright, still to secure his future for next year, but it was TeamVodafone’s Whincup that will take the headlines with just one day and another 250km to go in the 2009 season.

It was back to back Championships for Whincup – only the second man to Marcos Ambrose who is rightly being proclaimed one of the country’s finest sporting exports with a career in American NASCAR – for TeamVodafone.

“I fought hard, I had nothing left in me; this week’s been draining, I must admit,” Whincup said.

“I’m rapt with my performance. I thought that was the best I could have done with not much time this week to be a racing car driver or to focus on steering wheels, throttles and brakes and stuff like that. We’ve had a huge week but finished it off with that double Championship.”

When asked to reflect on his Championships Whincup said it would take time to understand the magnitude of his achievements and one of the best winning records in the history of the Australian Touring Car Series.

“You just cherish every moment you’ve got by yourself to really reflect on exactly what it means. I had a little bit of time on that in-lap across the line; I was chatting away to Skaifey – I could hardly hear him – but you come in and it’s all happening I had about a minute there on the cool-down lap to reflect on the achievements and it’s an unbelievable feeling.

“I decided to dedicate my life to motorsport and racing cars and the ultimate here is to race a V8 Supercar and win a Championship so absolutely everything goes in the basket and the Championship for me is absolutely everything.”

In an enthralling battle of man, machine and track, Whincup at one stage was in the lead before dramas struck time and time again with other cars and Tander got the best of team strategy and car setup to win the race. But fifth was more than enough to seal the title for Whincup from Tander’s team-mate Will Davison who finished 15th.

“We’ve got a great leader and I’m sure the continuity is going to be there next year. Everything that lifted my motivation, especially this year, the fact that Marcos Ambrose was the last person to go back-to-back for a double Championship, that was my sole motivation.

“Last year, I’d fight hard but the guys would give my a bit of slack here and there, and maybe let me through and I was able to have a nice, easy run to the flag. But this year, they didn’t give me an inch. They want to knock me over harder and harder.”

Tander was over the moon with his own which may set up the next season for a possible shot at a second Championship in 2010.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic with today’s result, it was very special to win in Sydney first up – I did it in Hamilton last year and to do it again today and also get pole was very satisfying,” Tander said.

“For us our priority is to lock the Team’s Championship away. It’s massive for everyone on the team – the guys that prep the car, do all the work back in the workshop, work all the late nights, do all the pit stops – it’s their Championship and they’re the ones that deserve the title so we’re very keen to win it.

“If we do that we’ve won the Team’s Championship, finished second and third in the Driver’s Championship, and won Phillip Island and Bathurst – and that’s not a bad year to have.”

In a massively exciting 84 laps the race really spiced up past the quarter way point. It was on for young and old as tyres wore and brakes slipped with the challenging circuit getting the better of many. The drivers were completely tested and spent.

It started with Valvoline Cummins’ Lee Holdsworth who had a cracking weekend to lead the race and have a podium in sight until he ran into simple bad luck. He followed a bump between Paul Dumbrell and Dean Fiore into a fluid slick across the track.

In seconds he lost control and slid head first into one of the many walls and his dreams of a victory or a podium at the first Sydney Telstra 500 were shot. It was a great misfortune for Holdsworth who was clearly one of the best performers in the field.

As the safety car tidied up a mess from a Cameron McConville lockup under brakes which left his WOW Commodore in a wall, Whincup dove into the pits to lose his first position on strategy but with a long way to go still had an ace up his sleeve.

The drama continued with James Courtney, with only bad luck stopping what could have been a huge year, when his driver side door began opening. As desperately as he struggled to close it while trying to handle a one ton monster he could not solve the problem.

Courtney was forced to pit when in second position. They taped the door but it didn’t hold, forcing Courtney back into the pits again. Game over. Within laps Courtney’s Jim Beam Racing team-mate Steven Johnson brushed a wall and flattened a tyre leaving both in the pits at the same time.

The last race of the year and the Sydney Telstra 500 goes on the line tomorrow with qualifying at 10am and race two of the weekend at 2.35pm. Whincup will be officially crowned Champion following the last race of 2009.