Full Throttle

The script was perfect. Sydneysiders filled all three places on the winners’ podium at the Sydney Telstra 500 today in an uncanny result to the biggest sporting event this year in Australia’s largest city.

In front of a huge Sunday crowd of 61,053 – making for the massive three-day event crowd of 184,856 – TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup was officially crowned as the 2009 V8 Supercar Champion despite finishing 14th on a tough day at the office.

Whincup sealed the championship with 3349 points ahead of HRT pair Will Davison (3044) and Garth Tander (2916), with Craig Lowndes (2592) fourth and Ford’s Mark Winterbottom fifth with 2414.

Winner James Courtney, second-placed Michael Caruso and third-placed Mark Winterbottom all confess to be ‘locals’ of the Sydney Telstra 500 track. Courtney was born and bred in Penrith, Caruso in Collaroy and Winterbottom in Doonside.

They all live elsewhere now, but James Courtney (Penrith), Michael Caruso (Collaroy) and Mark Winterbottom (Doonside) used to race karts against each other as kids and yesterday’s Olympic Park podium was like a trip down memory lane for the trio.

“This could have been the combined districts karting club championship 1992,” Courtney said. “We have all been racing against each other since we were seven. It makes it all that more special knowing you grew up just half an hour down the road here.”

Courtney gave his Jim Beam outfit great reward for an up and down season. He has now won at both new street track events in 2009 – the Dunlop Townsville 400 and the Sydney Telstra 500.

“We go into the Christmas break with a win after a tough year. It’s a nice little present to show them that we can. That gives us great confidence going into next year,” Courtney said.

Whincup sealed the Championship yesterday so today’s result didn’t matter. He now moves to Holden from Ford in 2010, something he sees as the next great challenge.

“That was definitely the toughest race of the year without a doubt,” Whincup said.

“This trophy means everything to me, I’m very glad to deliver Ford the Manufacturers Trophy as it means a lot to them and of course the Ford fans.

“The biggest challenge is no-one has won a Championship with Ford and Holden – that’s by far the biggest challenge out there. Your motivation comes to you, you don’t go looking for it. It could be something in the press or something you encounter in life but definitely the motivation is to win a Championship in both makes. It’s a huge deal.”

Whincup said he planned to stick around for a while in the V8 Supercar Championship Series.

“You look at Valentino Rossi, Michael Schumacher, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer – they back up year after year. I’m not getting too far ahead of myself but the motivation will be similar.”

Whincup was in awe of the circuit built around the famous Sydney Olympic Park.

“They couldn’t have done a better job with what they had,” he said. “It was one of the toughest races of the year and there’s no major improvement to be done. It offered great racing and there was plenty of carnage out there today. It’s going to build momentum, that’s for sure.”

Courtney agreed: “They have done a cracking job. There are no issues here at all. It all makes the racing spicy, everybody is struggling, there’s a lot of passing and a lot of action.

“There’s no point in having a six lane highway so we are driving around here without incident. We make it as exciting as we can and stay off the walls.”

Courtney started the race on the front row of the grid alongside Caruso’s team-mate Lee Holdsworth who ended up being the unluckiest driver of the weekend who for the second day in a row had led the race only to have disaster strike just when a podium beckoned.

Holdsworth did a cracking job in qualifying to put his Valvoline Cummins car on Armor All Pole Position and despite missing the start to Courtney. When Courtney pitted it put Holdsworth well in the lead until disaster struck.

He missed the apex at turn eight and ran straight into a tyre barrier, immediately saying down the radio to his team: “Sorry guys. I can’t get it out, sorry guys.”

Holdsworth managed to extricate himself from the tires but his race was over soon after when he couldn’t make it back to pit lane, giving Courtney back the lead.

Almost as unlucky wads Sprint Gas Racing’s Greg Murphy. He was pushing Courtney for the lead on lap 32 when he inexplicably locked the wheels, spun and slammed backwards into a tyre bundle, smashing the rear window into thousands of pieces.

Fujitsu Racing’s Jason Bright also had possible victory torn from his grasp with a pit lane penalty just laps after he took the lead from Courtney with a breathtaking pass on lap 43. Bright was penalised for hitting another car in pit lane.

He was the second driver to do so with Craig Lowndes also penalised for hitting Alex Davison while coming out of a pit stop.

Pos Driver Make Time
1. James Courtney Ford Falcon FG 2:08:16.0105
2. Michael Caruso Holden Commodore VE + 3.9087
3. Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon FG + 10.6865
4. Russell Ingall Holden Commodore VE + 13.2783
5. Fabian Coulthard Ford Falcon FG + 14.9597
6. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford Falcon FG + 20.7693
7. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VE + 25.9038
8. Will Davison Holden Commodore VE + 32.8472
9. Alex Davison Ford Falcon FG + 42.8316
10. Steven Johnson Ford Falcon FG + 1:13.1200
11. David Reynolds Holden Commodore VE + 1 laps
12. Michael Patrizi Ford Falcon BF + 1 laps
13. Paul Dumbrell Holden Commodore VE + 2 laps
14. Jamie Whincup Ford Falcon FG + 4 laps
15. Steven Richards Ford Falcon FG + 7 laps
16. Tim Slade Holden Commodore VE + 10 laps

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Make Laps
Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VE 57
Tony D’Alberto Holden Commodore VE 56
Jason Bright Ford Falcon FG 55
Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon FG 55
Cameron McConville Holden Commodore VE 54
Mark McNally Holden Commodore VE 47
Jason Bargwanna Holden Commodore VE 38
Dean Fiore Holden Commodore VE 37
Garth Tander Holden Commodore VE 28
Jack Perkins Holden Commodore VE 26
Jason Richards Holden Commodore VE 24
Lee Holdsworth Holden Commodore VE 21
Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VE 12