Australia's reigning V8 Supercar Champion Jamie Whincup heads into his title defence with a brand new VE Commodore built by TeamVodafone and Triple Eight Race Engineering for 2010.

The winner of the last two V8 Supercar championships, Whincup is making a return to Holden products having started his V8 Supercar career with Garry Rogers Motorsport in late 2002 in a Commodore.

Since then he has established himself as one of the country’s premier racing talents. A three-time Bathurst victor, two-time V8 champ and runner-up in 2007, Whincup is entering his fifth straight season with the Roland Dane-led squad and first in a Holden since 2005.

Like most of Australia's leading drivers, Whincup dominated in karting before graduating to Formula Ford in 2000. He was crowned Australian champion in 2002 and caught the eye of team owner Garry Rogers, who gave the Victorian his V8 Supercar debut at the then, Queensland 500 later that year.

The drive secured Whincup a fulltime spot at Garry Rogers Motorsport but after a tumultuous year he found himself without a drive come the end of the season and only able to secure an endurance seat with Castrol Perkins for 2004.

Whincup was handed a lifeline in 2005 with Tasman Motorsport signing him as a teammate for Jason Richards.

Whincup didn't disappoint, partnering Richards to podium results at both the Sandown and Bathurst endurance events.

Whincup joined Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2006 and took victory in the gruelling Clipsal 500 on debut. He also went on to win Bathurst with Craig Lowndes in his first year with the Brisbane-based team.

In 2007 Whincup proved a serious title contender, winning four rounds, including his second consecutive Bathurst victory, on his way to finishing runner up to Garth Tander by a mere two points.

2008 saw Whincup finish the job, taking his third Bathurst 1000 crown in a row before claiming the championship in style with a victory in Race 1 at Oran Park in a season where he won six rounds and was clearly the class of the field.

Armed with a newer model car in 2009, it was again Whincup’s season as he led the championship from the start in Adelaide to the finish in Sydney and became the first back-to-back champion since Marcos Ambrose. Now he will aim at becoming the first man to win three consecutive championships since Mark Skaife in 2000, 2001 and 2002.