As tough as it is in the competitive world of V8 Supercar racing, Jamie Whincup still found time to get down on himself after winning the Midas 400 at Sandown Raceway on Monday.
The TeamVodafone driver took the event for a second straight year, having won the longer Sandown 500 with team-mate Craig Lowndes in 2007, but was highly critical of his performance after beating Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom and Jeld Wen Racing's James Courtney to round honours.
The all-Ford top three meant Winterbottom took the championship lead from Toll Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander, who was a lowly seventh, while, for Whincup, a win was a welcome in his bid to get back to the top of the standings, even if he was not exactly happy with his overall performance.
“I made three or four errors over the weekend, which is below average for an elite athlete,” Whincup said, “I am running in the top line of motorsport, where you've got to stay on the limit. All these guys beside you are pushing to the limit and you are to the limit but, as an elite athlete, should be able to perform at their best and not make any mistakes. I will go away and work on that and see what the drama is.”
Whincup, who had admitted to concentration problems while winning race one on Sunday, virtually won the event on the back of his race three performance as a late pit-stop strategy put him in front of Winterbottom and the story of the day – SP Tools rookie Shane Van Gisbergen - who finished fourth for the weekend.
Although it will come as little comfort to Whincup, even Winterbottom admitted to making some errors in the gloomy conditions of the final race, which finished in near darkness and spotting rain. But the FPR man was jubilant that he was able to put himself and FPR into the championship lead for the first time in team history.
“The championship lead is fantastic," 'Frosty' commented, "It's the first time ever for FPR, and we are excited about how we are going, but to lead is an achievement."
Tander, meanwhile, lamented a poor weekend by his and HRT's usual standards.
“Obviously, it was a bad weekend for the team,” he said, “We just have to put this behind us and go to Darwin and do better. We lost the points lead, but there's still eight rounds remaining.”
