Thursday, 14 June 2012:

Fuming after a costly crash during the previous round in Phillip Island, V8 Supercar champion Jamie Whincup wants to set things straight in Darwin this weekend.

Whincup heads to the Northern Territory trailing Ford driver Will Davison by 10 points in the championship standings and sitting second isn't something the three-time title winner is comfortable with.

The TeamVodafone driver admitted he's still upset after being the innocent victim of a crash involving Davison and Tim Slade during the first race at Phillip Island, which allowed the Ford Performance Racing driver to leapfrog Whincup into the championship lead.

"I'm pissed off - 10 points down in the championship due to getting taken out in Phillip Island," Whincup told AAP.

"I feel like I should be 120 ahead, assuming I got the 130 in that race.

"We've had a good start to the year. We should be leading but, because the opposition's taken us out, that's why we're running second.

"I'm not pissed off at any particular driver. There was a crash between Will and Tim Slade and I'll let them work out between themselves who was at blame there but I'm pretty pissed off at the situation.

"Sladey got a podium out of it and Will went on to win on Sunday and lead the championship and I looked pretty ordinary out of the whole thing and I was just an innocent bystander.

"As I say, I'm pissed with the situation and, hopefully, we can rectify that this weekend."

Since last month's Phillip Island event, Whincup's team has been hit with the news telecommunications company Vodafone will not be renewing its sponsorship at the end of the year.

But the 29-year-old said that blow hadn't caused any noticeable concern within his team ahead of the journey to Hidden Valley.

Whincup, a two-time race winner in Darwin, has finished in the top 10 in 13 of the past 15 races in the Top End but is yet to record a pole position at the venue.

"That hasn't had any huge impact on our performance," Whincup said of the sponsorship news.

"I've been asked not to comment on it, to refer all comments back to the team, but of course we're going to go as hard as we can right until the end of the year and there's been no negativity whatsoever within the team. It's all business as usual.

"Always liked Darwin. Had some up and down results there so hopefully over this weekend, we can have a clean run.

"It's actually one track where there's been real good variety (in winners).

"It's going to be close. Qualifying's going to be really important and, yeah, bring on the heat."

The action at Hidden Valley begins on Friday with practice ahead of a race on Saturday and on Sunday.

AAP