Jamie Whincup has strengthened his chances of wrapping up the V8 Supercar championship at Winton by grabbing pole position for Sunday’s 67-lap race.

Whincup pinched top spot with a sizzling one minute 22.7970 seconds lap with 45s left in the 20-minute qualifying session.

He won the opening race on Saturday, and can clinch the championship if he finishes ahead of, or not far behind, his only challenger Mark Winterbottom in Sunday’s race.

The Holden driver leads Ford’s Winterbottom by 326 points.

He needs just a 300-point lead following Sunday’s race to seal the title.

Winterbottom will start from third on the grid, with his Ford Performance Racing teammate Will Davison alongside Whincup on the front row.

Whincup says he will attack the race no differently despite the high stakes on offer, knowing he also has the final round in Sydney in a fortnight to gather enough points to win the title.

“I plan to do exactly what I’ve been doing. It would be stupid to change the mentality, change the way we go about our race,” Whincup said.

“We’ll obviously try to improve the car, and if we can do that, qualify well. The day’s pretty vital in the grand scheme of things.”

Whincup, 29, will join exalted company with a fourth championship victory.

Only Dick Johnson, Ian Geoghegan and Mark Skaife have been five-time Australian Touring Car Championship winners, and Whincup would join Allan Moffat, Jim Richards and Bob Jane with a fourth title.