The Supercars championships has been turned on its head with Red Bull Holden star Jamie Whincup penalised and dropping to fourth in the standings.

The seven-time champion received a 38 second post-race time penalty late on Saturday night for turning off his pitlane speed limiter in the first race of the Phillip Island 500 earlier in the day.

Whincup finished second behind championship leader Scott McLaughlin in the 250km race, but the penalty dropped him to 14th, meaning David Reynolds and Shane van Gisbergen overtake him in the overall standings.

He was just one point behind McLaughlin (797) following the race, but his costly mistake means he is now 76 in arrears going into Sunday’s second leg.

Whincup conceded in his post-match press conference that he might have been in some trouble after being hit from behind by McLaughlin as the pair took both their pit stops at the same time.

But the severity of the penalty was unexpected.

Triple Eight team manager Mark Dutton said Whincup had made an error and would have to move on from it.

“He saw the wrong cone, turned it off, realised his mistake, turned it back on,” Dutton told Supercars.com.

“But you’re not allowed to, it’s as simple as that. It has to be on. He’s made a mistake, he’s human.

“There was nothing underhand and that might not mean much to everyone, but to me it is a difference.

“I’ll accept a mistake, because we can all make them, but if someone does something that’s in line with cheating, that’s not acceptable and that wasn’t the case (with Whincup).”