Whincup cautious over sixth title talk

Jamie Whincup is blocking out the prospect of sealing an unprecedented sixth V8 Supercar title at the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400 this weekend.

The Red Bull Racing driver heads into the penultimate round of the season on the verge of wrapping up the championship, virtue of a 402 point lead over his Ford Performance Racing rival Mark Winterbottom.

Securing a sixth title would see the 31-year-old become the most successful driver in Australian touring car history, eclipsing legendary five-time champions Ian Geoghegan, Dick Johnson and Mark Skaife.

Although it is mathematically possible for Winterbottom, Shane van Gisbergen and team-mate Craig Lowndes to claim this year’s crown with 600 points up for grabs, Whincup could secure the title as early as Saturday evening, if he extends his lead to 450 points.

Likewise he will become champion even if he drops 102 points to second placed Winterbottom throughout the weekend.

Faced with the prospect of moving to a standalone Australian touring car record number of championships, Whincup says the title is not his main focus this weekend, although he concedes the event could produce a historic career moment.

The triumph would be Whincup’s sixth championship in the last seven years, having achieved his first in 2008.

“I’m completely blocking out the chance of winning a sixth title this weekend,” Whincup told Speedcafe.com.

“The championship is going on but it is all about myself and the team doing the best job.

“We are certainly not in the mind of collecting points or conserving we will be belting it as hard as we can.

“The one thing that this does show is that pride is worth more than anything so we want to make sure we finish the year well.

“It could be a huge moment for me absolutely it could be, but there is a lot of water to run under the bridge.

“Thats always the hope there will be some champagne on ice at the end. We certainly need to execute well to have any chance of that.”

Despite the magnitude of his success over the previous seven years, Whincup insists he will not truly reflect on his achievements until after his motor racing career is over.

“I’m still in the heat of the battle but I’d like to think that I have got quite a long career ahead of me still,” added Whincup.

“Those numbers for me are a work in progress and it probably won’t be something I will reflect on until the end of my career hopefully that is not soon.”

Jamie Whincup’s V8 Supercars career in numbers