Motorsport: Whincup hot on road to Hamilton

Jamie Whincup came out on top at the Australian Grand Prix meeting, the Albert Park 400 in Melbourne. Photo / Supplied

Two-time V8 Supercars champion Jamie Whincup is hot to trot heading to Hamilton for the ITM400, round three of the V8 Supercars series this week.

Not only is he leading the championship but he has also had a great weekend at the non-points scoring round at the Australian Grand Prix meeting, the Albert Park 400 in Melbourne, March 25-27.

Whincup turned the tables on last year's Melbourne victor, Garth Tander, leaving the track as the weekend winner with Tander second and young Kiwi driver Shane van Gisbergen in third.

It's a great result for the Kiwi as he heads to his home ground, where he and his Stone Brothers team would dearly love to win.

Whincup said the perfect strategy was the key when he started on hard tyres like most of the field. An early safety car following a massive lap-one crash meant anyone who started on the soft compound was in trouble.

"We generally categorise our wins," said Whincup.

"There's driver wins, team wins and then there's pure arse. This one was definitely a team win. They called the strategy perfectly and that was that.

"As we keep saying, even though it's not championship points we always drive to a different scenario and there's a heap of craziness out there.

"You never want to see damage like that. I couldn't believe what I saw coming around the next lap with complete rear ends torn apart.

"I'm sure there will be a few people on the hill who liked it but that's going to be quite a big job for a couple of teams."

Tander wasn't fazed though, saying his Toll HRT team managed to get through a lot of preparation ahead of the ITM400.

"We came here to have a straight car and a lot of development, which we achieved," said Tander. "It was a real shame though that Jason Richards went out in [race three] because it would have been good to have him here with us." Greg Murphy continued to find form and will be pleased with picking up a second place in the third race behind Whincup.

He and his Kelly Racing Pepsi Max Crew team will be looking to improve even more on the streets of Hamilton for the ITM400, where he'll be hoping to regain some of the former glory he tasted when the event was held at Pukekohe.

Murphy was virtually untouchable at the South Auckland track, winning the round four out of six times, and was never off the podium.

"I thought, 'Well, this crash is going to take a while to clean up and we are on a time limit.' So we rolled the dice a little bit but it paid off," said Murphy.

"When I went past the crash it was two cars involved and we got through no problems. But then it got a lot bigger, resulting in probably two more laps behind the safety car.

"That was the thing that turned the race ... Obviously we had two cars out of Kelly Racing's four Commodores pretty badly damaged, which is disappointing and means a lot of work for everybody getting ready for Hamilton.

"It's a real shame and I'm thinking of the boys on the crew.

"I wouldn't say we are all the way there yet but today has given us a really good confidence boost."