Motorsport: Catch me if you can, taunts Whincup

Jamie Whincup is taunting his Ford rivals heading into this weekend's Townsville 400. Photo / Getty Images

V8 Supercars championship contender Jamie Whincup says his rivals need to catch him first before he starts worrying about drivers seeking to settle old scores.

Ford driver Mark Winterbottom was left fuming following an incident which he believed was Whincup's fault at the end of the first race in the previous event at Darwin's Hidden Valley circuit.

It's rumoured there's no lack of animosity between the pair after the Top End accident but two-time champion Whincup says a driver seeking revenge isn't causing him sleepless nights, going into this weekend's Townsville 400.

"I'm not worried," the TeamVodafone ace told AAP.

"I think I can certainly hold my own out there and, if not, I've got a good back-up guy, Lowndesy (team-mate Craig Lowndes), helping me out."

Whincup says his only mistake in Darwin was allowing himself to get caught up in traffic and his aim is to be so far ahead at in far north Queensland that all he has to worry about is himself.

"We're looking to try and put in one of our best performances this weekend," he said.

"We made too many errors at Darwin.

"This weekend, we're going to try to not make critical errors and have a solid run."

Whincup leads the standings on 1395 points, 25 having been docked for his role in the accident with Winterbottom, with Lowndes second on 1239.

But if Darwin was bad for Whincup, it was a disaster for defending champion James Courtney.

The Holden Racing Team pilot picked up just 63 points over the whole weekend and goes into Townsville 16th on the championship ladder.

And while Courtney admits his title defence is practically over, he's confident of getting back at the top on the track in Townsville.

"I guess the first year there (2009) with DJR (Dick Johnson Racing) was similar in terms of what's going on with results," Courtney told AAP.

"When we got there, we won the thing and, last year, we were second so we've had pretty good success there in the past and it's a track that's been pretty nice to me so, hopefully, it's a bit more of the same this year."

Courtney said after a management reshuffle and the news team-mate Garth Tander had committed to HRT for a further three seasons, there is an air of change at the Holden factory outfit following Darwin.

"It's been a bit of trying time. There's been a lot of changes and movement within the team," he said.

"The only way to go is up at this point. We've got all the right ingredients there. I think the shake-up with personnel has been the right thing for the team.

"We mightn't go out and have the cracking speed this weekend but, hopefully by the end of the year, people can look back and go 'yeah, that's where it started to turn around for them'."

The Townsville 400 begins today with practice before 200km races on Saturday and Sunday.

- AAP