Why Whincup wins

Jamie Whincup has claimed his record sixth V8 Supercars drivers' championship because he and Triple Eight Race Engineering apply themselves to the task of winning better than any of their rivals.

That is the view of a man who should know; Whincup's close friend and endurance co-driver for the last three years, Paul Dumbrell.

"Jamie is the utmost perfectionist," Dumbrell told v8supercars.com.au. "He focuses on every single detail. His preparation for weekends is the best I have seen."

This year Dumbrell co-drove Whincup to victory in the Pirtek Enduro Cup and the points haul they collected over the course of the Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and Gold Coast 600 whichalmost certainly guaranteed the Red Bull Racing Australia Holden Commodore VF driver would claim his record sixth championship at the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400 this weekend.

Whincup entered the round leading FPR's Mark Winterbottom by 402 points, Tekno Autosports Shane van Gisbergen by 478 points and Craig Lowndes in the other RBRA Commodore by 504 points. Now, his 461-point lead over Winterbottom cannot be toppled, and Whincup waits to be crowned at the Sydney grand finale, and officially become the driver with the most V8 Supercars titles in history,ahead of Ian Geoghegan, Dick Johnson and Mark Skaife.

He would also match Geoghegan's achievement of winning four drivers' championship in a row, although the Ford legend won three of those in races.

Apart from his obvious speed behind the steering wheel, Dumbrell said Whincup's commitment to doing everything right was a key reason he so often was at the front, or was able to successfully fight back to a winning position when the odds seemed against him.

"Jamie is a process-driven guy and he goes through everything methodically and doesn't make mistakes."

Dumbrell said that attitude was crucial in the Pirtek Enduro Cup.

"I will say I stuffed up and he will say 'ok what can we do to help you not do that'. It is not about 'don't do that', it is about analysing it; what didn't we do that we should do so that doesn't happen again?

"It's important to have done all the work and you have come to a conclusion, rather than say 'she'll be right, we won't make that mistake again' without really understanding why you made it."

Whincup has fought back from a huge points gap to then championship leader Winterbottom after the Darwin event, and that, says Dumbrell, is evidence of the qualities of both driver and team.

"You look at this year, he was nearly 250 points down behind and not winning races," said Dumbrell. "It's really a hard slog and it's a testament to the team to get it right. They changed test schedules because they had to get a better understanding of various things, changed things around and got back there.

"And they have done that three or four time over the last six years. Maybe you can look at the championship results and say it's been a whitewash, but I don't think there have been many years like that. There have been ebbs and flows."

Dumbrell said the team's strength started at the top with owner Roland Dane and was solidified by its stability; Mark Dutton has been Whincup's engineer for his first five championships with Dave Cauchi taking over this year and Lowndes has also been his team-mate throughout.

"RD (Roland Dane) is just ruthless. He is just ruthless. He will do anything to get a result," Dumbrell said.

"A lot of people underestimate the dynamic and the harmony within the team. Even the change with Dutto and Cauchi taking on different roles has proven that the team, the environment, the longevity of the management structure goes a long, long way.

"Two drivers pushing each other; engineers pushing each other. I think a lot of people underestimate that and if you look up and down pitlane there wouldn't be many teams that have consistency even remotely like that.

"Even if the driver has been there for that amount of time they might have had three management structures come through."