Jamie Whincup has been the centre of concerted betting even though the odds are heavily stacked against him winning a seventh Supercars Championship in the season-ending Coates Hire Sydney 500 this weekend.
Whincup remains the ‘punter’s pal’ despite going into the remaining two races 191 points in arrears of Red Bull Racing Australia team-mate Shane Van Gisbergen.
With a total of 300 points on offer across the two-race weekend, Kiwi van Gisbergen needs to finish fifth or better in either race to seal his maiden championship crown.
While van Gisbergen is essentially at an unbackable $1.02, Whincup is $12 in what remains mathematically a two-driver fight for the touring car crown.
Leading betting agency UBET says the bets laid down on Whincup reeling in Van Gisbergen has been surprising since the gap between the pair widened at the previous round earlier last month in New Zealand.
“Since the Auckland SuperSprint three weeks ago, almost 60 percent of Championship winner cash has come for Whincup, which is astounding when you consider what has to happen for him to win the title,” said UBET spokesperson Nick Curry.
“He needs to make up nearly 200 points over two races, which, barring an unmitigated blowout by Van Gisbergen, like his double DNF at the event in 2012, is fantastically unlikely to happen.”
“By pricing the market as we have, we are saying there is just a two percent chance he’ll claim the crown and a 98 percent chance it’ll go to his team-mate.”
Last year across the three-race format Whincup won the opening two heats with van Gisbergen winning the third race.
While van Gisbergen is a shade over money back for the title, it is a completely different story for the opening 74-lap race.
The Red Bull pair share favouritism at $2.50 ahead of Scott McLaughlin and Mark Winterbottom who are both decent value at $9.
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