Whincup is the Man :)

Whinners takes all


Release date: 06/12/2008
TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup has clinched the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship in style by winning the first of three races at Oran Park for the NRMA Motoring and Services Grand Finale round today (Saturday).
Whincup has already won the Championship over Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom by 309 points, and there are still two races to go tomorrow.
Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander, who started the race on pole, was deemed to have jumped the start and was handed a 10-second penalty, which he served on top of his compulsory pit stop.
Before Tander was told of his penalty, he and Whincup swapped the lead in the first few corners.
Whincup came off second best, and he later admitted that he probably shouldn’t have done it “but I can’t help myself”.
The 10-second penalty pushed Tander down the race order, leaving Whincup to lead for the second half of the race.
With tears in his eyes, an emotional Whincup earnestly told the media post-race: “I don’t cry, I’m a racing driver and an Aussie bloke. We don’t cry.”
But he said it felt amazing to be crowned a V8 Supercar Champion.
“The feeling is as good as I imagined,” he said, adding that it was a huge relief to have won the title.
“(Over) the last two weeks people were telling me it was going to happen, but to finally get over the line is unbelievable.
“The car was a rocket.
“We just got the position back, great pit stop and… not only did we win the drivers’ Championship, but we wrapped up the teams’ Championship which is a big deal.”
Teammate Craig Lowndes finished second after the new Champ and Supercheap Auto Racing’s Russell Ingall finished third for the race.
Lowndes overtook Ingall for the place on lap 39 of the race, much to the chagrin of The Enforcer who said he had pace at the start but then ran out of steam.
“I saw this other Vodafone car looming up and I thought ‘bloody Lowndes, here we go again’,” he said.
“I tried to put up a bit of a fight but there wasn’t much there.”
While TeamVodafone and Supercheap Auto Racing enjoyed the spoils of the race, many other teams were not so lucky.
Tander’s teammate Mark Skaife, who retires from fulltime driving at the end of this round, clashed with Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom in pitlane during their pit stops.
The incident bent the steering arm of Winterbottom’s car and also damaged Skaife’s car, forcing them both into their pit garage.
Both drivers ended up getting their cars back out for the race, but Winterbottom’s run at Oran Park went from bad to worse as he was given a 10-second pit lane penalty for the incident and for selecting reverse gear in pit lane.
But Tander, who returned to the race in 11th spot after serving his penalty for jumping the start, managed to claw his way back to finish the race in sixth.
Race One Top 10
Jamie Whincup, Falcon
Craig Lowndes, Falcon
Russell Ingall, Commodore
Steven Richards, Falcon
James Courtney, Falcon
Garth Tander, Commodore
Todd Kelly, Commodore
Michael Caruso, Commodore
Rick Kelly, Commodore
Will Davison, Falcon

And Ford 1,2,3 team championship, and Team Beam 5th and 10th overall, bring on next year

The Holden crew have nothing at all to rave about now, Ford wins Bathurst for 3yrs in a row, Ford win the manufactures title and Ford win the championship........I hope I haven't missed anything??

They will say that they won Hamilton and that is the most important one

Allshookup wrote:They will say that they won Hamilton and that is the most important one

LMAO..........I take you have spoken with a few Holden supports too then??. Its the most important one to them cos its a NZ race, I tell them if that's what makes them happy then I happy for them but I much prefer to be able to blow arse about Bathurst and the Championship.

What will they say when we win Hamilton as well, ummmmmmmmmm

Before I forget.........SVG finished ahead of Murphy too.