A red-hot driving display by Jamie Whincup in Darwin has sounded a warning to his V8 Supercars championship rivals.
The Red Bull Racing driver completed a perfect Saturday at the Hidden Valley Raceway, winning both 100km races from pole position to reignite his bid for a fourth straight title.
Whincup was barely challenged by his rivals in either race, leading from start to finish in both to move within 165 points of championship leader Mark Winterbottom, shaving 48 points off the Ford Performance Racing driver’s advantage.
After not winning a race since the Tasmania 400 in March, Whincup refused to get too carried away by his dramatic return to form.
“I won’t go making any big statements,” he said.
“It was refreshing. We had plenty of room for improvement, without doubt.
“The question is, can we continue this for the rest of the year?”
Teammate Craig Lowndes capped his 40th birthday by finishing second in both races.
The veteran is just 65 points behind Winterbottom in the championship standings with the Ford star only finishing sixth in both races.
“I don’t know what our gap now is to Frosty but we’ve been able to stay in front of him, which is great,” Lowndes said.
“We’ll obviously sit down and look how we can improve the car because tomorrow is going to a little bit more about strategy as well as getting pace from the car.”
New Zealander Fabian Coulthard remains third in the standings after his third-place finish in the second race while another Kiwi, Shane van Gisbergen, claimed third in the earlier race.
If Whincup can complete a clean sweep of race wins in Sunday’s 200km race, he’ll become the first driver to claim the Darwin Triple Crown since the event’s inception in 1998.
“It’s been a trophy that’s been around for a long, long time and no one’s been able to take it home and sit it on their mantlepiece,” he said.
“That’d be serious bragging rights if I could do it, for sure.”
Sunday’s action begins with qualifying from 12.40pm (1.10pm AEST) ahead of the 69-lap race from 3.15pm (3.45pm AEST).
