MOTORSPORT: Double-ton time?

This weekend at an innocuous racetrack colloquially known as the paperclip and located in a scrubby Queensland paddock, perhaps the finest touring car racer Australia has ever produced is a very good chance of adding another major milestone to a stellar career.

Jamie Whincup (pictured), the six-times supercar champion and four-time Bathurst 1000 winner, could win race number 100, becoming only the second driver in Australian touring car history to do so.

And if he achieves that feat on Saturday in the opening race of the eighth round of the 2016 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship then we know for sure he will also bring up race win number 100 for Triple Eight Race Engineering since it swapped from Ford to Holden in 2010.

It would be appropriate if Whincup does bring up the ton for his team, rather than new Red Bull team-mate Shane van Gisbergen or even Craig Lowndes, who was his team-mate until shifting this year to a T8 satellite entry backed by Caltex.

The reason for that is Whincup has won every one of his six championships and 99 races for T8 after being plucked from relative obscurity in 2006 by team owner Roland Dane, who was on the look-out for a cheap, young driver to back up category superstar Lowndes.

Dane is a shrewd man and an able judge of racing talent, but there's no doubt in Whincup he got more than he bargained for.

And there's no doubt Australian touring car racing got more than it bargained for when Dane arrived from the UK racing scene and bought Briggs Motorsport in 2003. That operation has since been transformed into the dominant force in Supercars racing.

It says much that Lowndes is the only driver ahead of Whincup on the winners list. He has 103 wins, with 30 of them coming for T8 in a Holden. In the same time Whincup has won 66 races in Commodore VEs and VFs.

Achieving the double-ton on home ground at Ipswich would be appropriate and logical, as Whincup, Lowndes and the team that supports them have used the track for years in testing. T8 also has 10 wins and poles at QR, which is the best record of any team.

But victory for T8 here would also signal the period of enjoyable democracy that has ruled Supercars racing so far in 2016 is coming to an end as the season develops and the cars with it.

We have had 10 winners from 15 races so far in 2016, but last time out in Townsville there were no new names on top of the podium for the first time this year, with Whincup and van Gisbergen splitting the races between them.

They now also lie 1-2 in the championship with Lowndes in fourth. The only car separating them is the Prodrive Ford Falcon FG X of defending champion Mark Winterbotton. He appears to be fighting a lone hand against the Holden horde for the drivers' championship, unless Scott McLaughlin and Garry Rogers' Volvo team can become more consistent.

How much the impact McLaughlin's recently announced move to DJR Team Penske for 2017 has had on the tight-knit team only time will tell.

McLaughlin is a former winner here, so his chances cannot be discounted. His future team might also break through on its test track courtesy of Fabian Coulthard or Scott Pye. Another Ford driver, Chaz Mostert is also still in the hunt for his first win of 2016 and has a strong record here. Watch out for the Nissans to run strongly too, while Will Davison and Tekno bring strong form to their test track.

Meanwhile, further down the grid – actually right at the back – there have been the first of what will no doubt be a series of cash-related driver movements.

Tail-ender Aaren Russell has dropped out of the championship, a move triggered by a clash between his sponsor Plus Fitness and Erebus Motorsport team owner Betty Klimenko. There were some deeper financial issues too, but the short term result is that veteran Craig Baird steps into the #4 and burger chain Hungry Jacks picks up the tab for QR at least.

Meanwhile here's what to look out for at Queensland Raceway this weekend:
>> The Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint is the eighth round of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. It comprises 1 x 120km race on Saturday and 1 x 200km race on Sunday. Practice, including a dedicated enduro co-driver session, is on Friday and single qualifying sessions on Saturday and Sunday.

>> All qualifying and racing will be conducted on the Dunlop soft tyre.

>> All cars will have to make at least one stop in the 120km races and change four tyres. They will have to make a minimum two stops on Sunday to comply with the minimum 120 litre fuel drop.

>> Dubbed the paperclip, the 3.12km track has a top speed of 255km/h. Average speed is 162km/h. The primary set-up focus is on car balance. The left-front tyre cops a beating. Track conditions are also notoriously changeable, depending on whether it is sunny or overcast.

>> Queensland Raceway has only six corners, four to the right and two to the left mid-lap. The first two are high-speed and the next four quite slow. Heaviest braking is for turn three, which comes at the end of the back straight and provides one of the track's best passing opportunities.

>> Will Davison owns the qualifying lap record at 1m 09.0593s. Lee Holdsworth, who will be absent because of injury for the second straight meeting, owns the race lap record at 1m 10.0423s.

>> Craig Lowndes is the most successful driver at Ipswich, claiming 11 race wins, six poles and 13 podiums finishes in his last 17 starts here. A win this weekend will mean he equals touring car legend Mark Skaife on 80 career wins for Holden.

>> Milestones this weekend include 100 round starts for Erebus driver David Reynolds and 400 race starts for Ford star Mark Winterbottom. DJR Team Penske's Scott Pye starts round 50, as does team owner Charlie Schwerkolt's CS Racing (or Preston Hire racing as it is publicly branded).

>> Fox Sports will telecast the action live. Channel 10 will replay highlights.

Declaration: Bruce Newton is a paid contributor to the official v8supercars.com.au website.