Jamie Whincup does not believe that his blistering pace in practice and qualifying has made him the favourite to win Sunday’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.
Whincup will be the last man out in tomorrow’s Top 10 Shootout for pole position after topping the 40 minute Friday afternoon qualifying session.
CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s qualifying report and results
The three-time former winner of the race had also emerged fastest from Thursday’s practice and the final session run prior to qualifying.
Despite his form, Whincup believes that recent Bathurst results should take precedence when predicting the outcome of Sunday’s race.
“I think you’ve just got to go on the past results and at the end of the day Lowndesy (Craig Lowndes) and (his co-driver) Luffy (Warren Luff) have been very, very strong up here,” he said.
“GT (Garth Tander) has won two of the last three as well so those guys have still got to be the favourites in my eyes.”
Whincup completed just two fast laps during qualifying and described his session as “cruisey”.
“We had a fairly consistent and cruisey run. We used a couple of sets of tyres, put just one lap on each set and made the most of my second run,” he said.
“At the end of the day, with the Shootout still to come and then a 161 lap race, it (qualifying) pretty much means nothing, but someone has got to take the number one spot, so here we are.”
Whincup’s endurance partner Paul Dumbrell ended the morning’s co-driver practice session second position and echoed his long-time friend’s sentiments at the end of the day.
“There are no awards or trophies for being quickest throughout practice, you’ve just got to make sure you’re at the front of the field on Sunday afternoon,” he said.
“We’ve got a bit more work to do, we certainly think we can improve from where we are.”
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 Race Guide.