Sunday, 7 July 2019:
 | | JAMIE WHINCUP driver of the #1 Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore ZB poses during the 2018 Supercars Media Day at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia. | |
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The red-hot form of Scott McLaughlin makes a championship tilt unlikely, but Supercars star Jamie Whincup is quietly building up form heading into the endurance season.
The Red Bull Holden Racing Team driver used an aggressive strategy on Saturday in Townsville to finish second after starting from sixth on the grid.
Whincup only gave up the race lead with 20 laps to go in the 200km event at Reid Park, with McLaughlin charging on to a sixth-straight race win.
Whincup, however, knows he simply cannot match the pace of McLaughlin's Mustang at this stage, but is confident he's chipping away at the margin with the season-defining Bathurst 1000 looming.
Since a horror round at Phillip Island, Whincup hasn't finished a race outside the top six and has been on the podium three times.
"We're confident. We're chipping away - nothing more to report," Whincup said.
"We'd like to be winning more races but that's the way it is - we'll keep grinding."
Whincup will get another chance to halt McLaughlin's winning run - the best in Supercars since Whincup himself won eight-straight races in 2008 - when the Townsville 400 wraps up on Sunday.
The 36-year-old has won 10 races on the Reid Park street circuit, more than any other driver.
"Unfortunately, we haven't made a step forward, but we've made a step sideways, so there might be a bit more fish in this pond we're fishing now," Whincup said as his team attempted to close the gap on McLaughlin's Mustang.
"I'm much happier doing that than just belting round doing the same thing."
Sunday's action begins with qualifying at 10:35am before a top-10 shootout for pole position and a second 200km race in the afternoon.
