Whincup to ‘regroup’ before Townsville
Jamie Whincup’s aspirations of a record eighth Supercars championship took a beating during an unusually circumspect Sunday in Darwin.
After winning the Triple Crown trophy and then taking ARMOR ALL Pole for the Saturday leg of the CoreStaff Darwin SuperSprint, Whincup was expected to be a prime challenger again yesterday.
That did not eventuate, with the Red Bull Holden star qualifying just eighth and seventh for the two races, and converting that into finishes of sixth and seventh.
With Scott McLaughlin going on to take a cleansweep of the round, Whincup has slipped to 177 points behind the Shell Ford driver. He remains however the only driver within a 300-point round of McLaughlin’s tally, with Shane van Gisbergen well adrift in third overall.
Whincup explained that poor car balance for qualifying yesterday derailed his day.
“We didn’t quite get the balance right in qualifying which meant we qualified seventh and eighth… and it was always going to be a tough day from there,” said the 37-year-old.
“We fought hard and I think our strategy was good and we did everything we could to make up a few spots in the race, but with the cars so even and consistent it’s difficult to really charge through the pack.
“With cars on different strategies as well, it’s difficult to get clean running in the middle of the race – you’re either blocked behind someone at the start of the race or blocked up waiting to pit late.
“Overall, we finished third for the round which isn’t too bad, but unfortunately, we couldn’t improve from last weekend, whereas a few other teams did.
“The car is pretty battered after a few battle wounds from two consecutive weekends of racing as well.”
The series heads to Townsville next weekend for the first of two back-to-back events in the north Queensland city.
The punishing nature of the street track combined with quickfire formats make for a high-risk high-reward scenario, at a location that has been kind to Whincup since its 2009 introduction to the calendar.
Whincup has amassed 10 wins around the streets of Reid Park – seven more than any other driver.
“Everyone’s pretty buggered after two hot weekends in Darwin so we’ll pack the truck, regroup, have a quick stop at home and head up to Townsville for another doubleheader,” he added.
