V8 Supercars: Whincup's biggie

Jamie Whincup has done well on the track, but the Homebush street circuit is always a challenge for him.Picture / Getty Images

Title looks within grasp, but last race is the toughest

V8 Supercar driver Jamie Whincup may be able to hear the fat lady warming up as he heads into the last round of the series in Sydney this weekend, but he'll not be counting on his fifth title yet.

Whincup jumped ahead of his Red Bull Racing Australia teammate Craig Lowndes in the last round at Phillip Island and leads the championship by 20 points with Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom in third 124 points behind Whincup. Although it is mathematically possible for Winterbottom's teammate Will Davison to snatch the championship, something would have to go awry for that to happen.

And it could, as Whincup has not had the best of times on the streets of the Sydney suburb, Homebush.

He'll have to reverse his usual form on the street track if he's to hold Lowndes and company at bay.

Whincup has never finished on the podium, let alone won a race in the four-year (and eight-race) history of the Sydney event. The Olympic Park track is the only circuit on the calendar at which Whincup has not scored a race win in his V8 Supercars career. His best finish has been fifth - four times. The other galling fact for the Melburnian is that he hasn't managed to get a pole on the technical and challenging circuit.

Lowndes, the man breathing down his neck, has finished in the top two in the last four Sydney races, winning the Saturday race in 2011 and 2012.

He also remains the only driver to finish all 34 championship races this year after Jonathon Webb retired from the last race at Phillip Island a couple of weeks ago.

From the viewpoint of the fans - and the teams who prepare the cars - the Sydney race would have to be the most unpredictable - more so than the Bathurst 1000.

Only Lowndes has been a repeat winner in eight races since 2009, and seven other drivers have stood on the podium top spot.

The unpredictability of who's going to win isn't helped by the 3.42km Sydney Olympic Park street circuit having gained a reputation as a real car-killer. On average, only 68 per cent of the cars on the starting grid get to the chequered flag.

Only 15 cars finished the notorious wet Saturday race in 2010.

If drivers are to bring their cars home in one piece, they will have to take particular care with kerb ride and bump control as the track is dominated by 90-degree corners and heavy crowning and undulations in the road, which will make their job hard.

It'll be a special weekend for Kiwi Scott McLaughlin's Gary Rogers Motorsport team as it is the last time he'll be flinging himself around in a Holden. Next year he'll be driving for the works Volvo Polestar Racing team.

Holden Racing Teams James Courtney's up-and-down year ends on a bum note. He'll miss the round - for the first time in seven years - because of injuries inflicted when he was heavily T-boned at Phillip Island by Alex Premat.

HRT endurance driver Nick Percat, driving a new car, will replace Courtney over the weekend.

Fabian Coulthard is the best-placed of the Kiwi drivers at fifth on the points table. Shane van Gisbergen is seventh and McLaughlin is 11th, slipping outside the top 10 after an average weekend at Phillip Island.

Race distances remain unchanged, but strategies will change.

Larger fuel cells and the introduction of two compulsory pit stops mean strategy options are many and varied this weekend.

Engineers will have to balance track position gains, fuel-in-hand gains and picking out a clear run to make sure everything falls into place in the run to the flag.

V8 Supercars Championship

1. Jamie Whincup - 2815
2. Craig Lowndes - 2799
3. Mark Winterbottom - 2691
4. Will Davison - 2592
5. Fabian Coulthard - 2393
6. Garth Tander - 2259
7. Shane van Gisbergen - 2254
8. Jason Bright - 2123