Jamie Whincup has vowed to pick up his performance this season after declaring there are no excuses for under-achieving.
The six-time V8 Supercars champion set himself lofty targets for 2016 after a disappointing campaign last year that saw him finish fifth in the championship.
The Triple Eight driver has measured his efforts harshly even though he is lying second in the championship, 42 points behind team-mate Craig Lowndes.
Whincup won the opening race of the season at the Clipsal 500 and has gone on to claim four more podiums, visiting the rostrum on average at least once in the four championship rounds so far.
Whincup’s self-criticism was further highlighted by an alarming lack of pace in Sunday’s race at Barbagallo Raceway.
Having shown genuine car speed in the early stages of the 200km heat, the Red Bull driver struggled in the second stint falling to 11th at the flag.
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“To be honest I’m disappointed with my performances this year,” Whincup told Speedcafe.com.
“We really wanted to come out firing and it hasn’t quite happened.
“Last weekend was a display of that. I believe we have underperformed and we have got to turn that around.
“I’ve got a massive opportunity this year. I have some of the best mechanics and engineers in pit lane and a good car. There are no excuses.”
Whincup says the team will be look at the data this week to uncover the reasons for his drop in performance.
Having held fourth spot, the 33-year-old pitted early in the race to gain track position, but was shocked by a lack of pace on the abrasive circuit in the second half of the race.
“It was disappointing to have no pace on Sunday considering we didn’t do anything radical,” added Whincup.
“There is something going on so we have got to spend this week looking at what went on. There has to be something there, we just don’t know what it is.
“We can guess (as to what went wrong). All the data is there. It is going to be a long week just trying to sort through it and find out what went wrong.
“The last stint we had only two laps difference. It was six or seven laps at the start of the race. We should have been just as competitive for sure, but it was not the case.
“It was partly due to strategy that we pitted early and got track position, but I have never been passed by so many cars in my whole life.
“I don’t want days where you have just got no pace for no real reason. We work so hard to make sure we don’t have them.
“There is no stress. We have still got a fantastic car and team. We have just got to make sure we are immune to that in the future.”
The championship heads to Winton next weekend where Whincup has struggled recently.
However, he is hoping a brief run out on the new track surface at the Victorian venue in Lee Holdsworth’s Team 18 entry earlier this month could offer a slight advantage for his own set-up.
“It was worthwhile but it was more about trying to help Lee (Holdsworth) out as one of our customers,” added Whincup.
“They made some good gains out of it and gains made there can help us at the race weekend.”
Whincup also confirmed that for the third year in succession he will receive a new chassis which is expected to arrive prior to the Wilson Security Sandown 500 (September 16-18) Pirtek Enduro Cup opener.
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