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V8 Supercars: Jamie Whincup Makes It Four From Four

Ford has finally ended its New Zealand hoodoo after Jamie Whincup swept to victory in race two of the Hamilton 400 in New Zealand.
Winning the Mark Porter Trophy, named in honour of the fallen Kiwi driver who passed away at Bathurst in 2006, Whincup beat


Ford has finally ended its New Zealand hoodoo after Jamie Whincup swept to victory in race two of the Hamilton 400 in New Zealand.

Winning the Mark Porter Trophy, named in honour of the fallen Kiwi driver who passed away at Bathurst in 2006, Whincup beat home James Courtney and Steven Johnson to lead an all Ford podium.

“Considering last year that I didn’t even start both races, to win both is amazing,” Whincup said.

“The only real worry in the race was James on new tyres. He stopped a lot later than I did; if we had have got a Safety Car at the wrong time I would have been very vulnerable.”

However, Whincup wasn’t in a mood for niceties in the aftermath of the morning’s disastrous 25 minute qualifying session which decided grid places for race two.

Introduced after widespread opposition to the single session which initially decided the grid for both races, Whincup claimed the new system was simply a “lottery” .

He said: “I was annoyed, I must admit. I was angry with what happened. It was pretty much a lottery in a way.

“We don’t want to get to the stage where we are drawing numbers out of the hat to determine the starting positions.”

“We need (a second qualifying session) but 20 minutes with only a five minute extension regardless is a little tough. We don’t see the quickest car on pole or start the race from the front. I know that’s what the category wants but it is a little bit artificial.”

V8 Supercars officials admitted the new sprint style qualifying session was introduced to spice up the race weekend and maintain interest levels for fair-weather followers of the sport.

“The thing for us, and I’ve been pretty loud about it right from the time that I started, was we’re trying to deliver more exciting racing not only to our core hardcore fans but also people who are interested but just find it a little bit difficult to get into," Chief Executive Officer Cameron Levick said.

“That is why we’ve gone with a single race format as opposed to the round format that we had last year.”

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