Jamie Whincup insists he isn't getting carried away despite extending his lead in the V8 Supercar Championship standings to almost 200 point in Bahrain.

While closest rivals Mark Winterbottom and Garth Tander found themselves in the wars during the Gulf Air Desert 400, Whincup was able to secure a hat-trick of victories to strengthen his championship position and he now sits 187 points clear of Winterbottom with just two rounds of the year remaining.

Having qualified at the head of the field, Whincup dominated the opening race while Winterbottom and Tander clashed on track and then completed a clean-sweep with successes in races two and three.

However, despite taking a maximum score from the weekend, he admitted he wasn't getting too carried away with six races still to run this year.

“The championship is looking good on paper but I can't stress enough anything can happen and there are still six races to go with 600 points up for grabs,” he said. “Our plan coming into this round was to keep the momentum going and we have certainly achieved our goal.

“Full credit must go to the team, they gave me an amazing car this weekend and did their jobs to perfection,”

Team-mate Craig Lowndes finished second in the round, giving Team Vodafone a well earned 1-2 from the annual trip to the desert circuit.

“When you look at where we were in 2007 we really have made a huge leap forward,” he said. “It is great to back on the podium for a sprint round, we really got a good handle on the car this weekend.

“My starts let me down a bit and I had to wait for the right time to make my way through the field in race three but I had some great battles and really enjoyed my racing this weekend."