In many ways, 2012 is the end of an era in V8 Supercars.

The championship’s new mechanical regulations, dubbed Car of the Future, come into place in 2013 while Nissan have already announced they’ll be breaking the Holden and Ford duopoly in the category next year with more manufacturers expected to follow the Japanese giant’s lead.

One thing that won’t be coming to an end – if he has anything to do with it – is Jamie Whincup and TeamVodafone’s dominance of the championship.

The 29-year-old swept all before him last year to claim his third driver’s championship and regain the No.1 sticker he lost to James Courtney in 2010.

His only real challenge for the title came from team-mate Craig Lowndes as the TeamVodafone pair proved a class above their rivals.

And Whincup has challenged his team to keep up their levels of innovation and maintain an edge over a chasing pack he knows will bounce back hard.

“I think they (rivals) went hard last year, there’d be no reason why not to,” Whincup told AAP.

“And I think they’re going to do the same this year.

“The reason we stayed competitive was we were innovating and finding the next level before they got to the level we were at. We felt like we stayed ahead.

“You can’t see it on television or lap-time but they were coming strong and we kept pulling away. That’s what we need to make sure we keep continuing to do.”

TeamVodafone have been the dominant force in V8 Supercars for the past five years, with Whincup’s three titles as well as a quartet of Bathurst victories (2006, 07, 08, 10) and three teams’ championships (2008, 10, 11).

The team’s engineering arm is heavily involved in designing and building the componentry involved in Car of the Future, a process Whincup hopes will give his team an edge when the new regulations come into force.

But he also feels there’s a risk the work could be a double-edged sword, presenting a possible distraction from the team’s on-track efforts this year.

“We’re more involved than anyone in this Car of the Future,” he said.

“Most of the componentry will either get designed or built at Triple Eight. There’s going to be Car of the Future just swelling through the whole building which is going to take up a lot of people’s time and effort but at the same time it’s got to be managed correctly to make sure we’re still fast and competitive this year and we achieve exactly what we want to.

“This is probably our third time after the move over from BF to FG and then of course FG to Holden. This similar thing was happening then. We knew we were going to a different product the year after but we’re still in a championship battle.

“We had one eye on one and one eye on the other and that’s going to be the same again this year. I’m relying on management to do a good job but they’ve got experience as well, they’ve been there done that and hopefully they can get the right balance.”

And while 2013 looms as a massive year for V8 Supercars, Whincup’s clear priority is defending his title successfully in 2012.

The championship begins in Adelaide in the first weekend of March, with the final event to be held at Sydney’s Olympic Park precinct on December 1 and 2.

“We’ve got to give the No.1 justice and the respect it deserves, making sure we’re going as hard as we can,” Whincup said.

“I’m pretty confident this year there’ll be no lack of motivation whatsoever.

“There’s plenty going on behind the scenes but I just want to get out there and do myself and the team proud.”

Whincup’s main rivals will once again be his team-mate Lowndes as well as the Holden Racing Team pair of Courtney and Garth Tander, while Ford Performance Racing duo Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom are keen to build on an encouraging finish to last year.

Courtney’s title defence last year was a disaster, the 31-year-old having to settle for a 10th place finish in the standings in his first year with HRT.

But that disappointing year hasn’t dented Courtney’s confidence and he feels the Holden factory-backed outfit is set for a resurgent season in 2012.

“From the enduros on as a team we found a lot of pace and had quite a few podiums as a group towards the end of the year,” he told AAP.

“We’re pretty confident that we’ve made quite a large improvement … we won’t know until we get to Clipsal but I think we’re in with a shot and there’s no reason why we can’t be title contenders at the end of the year.”