Whincup's class act

Team Vodafone driver Jamie Whincup continued his march towards the V8 Supercars Australia drivers' title with a hat-trick of victories in the Gulf Air Desert 400 at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) this weekend.

After taking the opening race on Friday, Whincup clinched races two and three on Saturday, earning him the maximum 300 points in the season's 12th round.

Team partner Craig Lowndes was the runner-up with 264 points overall after finishing third in both of Saturday's 32-lap sprints. Russell Ingall of Supercheap Auto Racing took the final podium spot with 246 points. He was second in race two and fifth in race three.

Meanwhile, Bahraini Fahad Al Musalam, driving for Team Kiwi Racing (TKR), had a good debut finishing 26th overall among the 29 participants in this round. He scored 46 points.

Following a good performance throughout the practices and qualifiers, Al Musalam was first seen progressing six positions - after starting from 29th - in the first race. Al Musalam was one of two drivers who did not finish race two. After running for 11 laps, the history making Bahraini driver was forced to retire due to gearbox problems. He was then classified 24th in race three.

"It has been fantastic to have Fahad on board, and he has gone beyond all our expectations," said a TKR spokesman.

Whincup won race two with another flawless display in his Ford Falcon car. He then claimed the finale just as convincingly, but not before a spirited head-to-head battle with Ingall early on.

Whincup was handed the lead, almost too easily, when defending champion Garth Tander suffered a miserable round at the desert track forcing him to settle for third place in the table with 2,624 points whilst Mark Winterbottom sits in second with 2,729 and Whincup leads a comfortable 2,916 points ahead.

Whincup said: "We are not going to get ahead of ourselves. There's still 600 points up for grabs."

His blistering pace throughout the weekend earned him the 11th round win of his career.