Whincup had his first hit-out in chassis #43 – nicknamed Alana – at Lakeside Park yesterday, shaking down the new car before its raced for the first time in Sydney in a week’s time.

The new car will replace the chassis he has been in since Sandown last year, which is set to head to its new home as part of Eggleston Motorsport’s Dunlop Series programme.

“The shakedown was excellent,” said Whincup.

“We rolled out and did a full systems check, and there was only some minor little electrical issues that we fixed very quickly. By the end of the day, Alana was running very smoothly.

“I didn’t get to really bust out some laps in anger due to restrictions around the Lakeside track, so we never did any setup changes or really went to 100 per cent. It was more doing a systems check and making sure I felt 100 per cent in the car. We were able to tick all those boxes and finish the day very happy.

While happy with the shakedown, the points leader isn’t predicting the new car will offer a significant step-up in pace.

“Obviously, you hope that every new car is better than the last,” added Whincup. “At the end of the day there’s really nothing wrong with Jen either, she did a great job for us.

“A new car is a great feeling; it’s somewhat a placebo which you take. Everything is nice and brand new.

“There are no major changes to the car at all. There has been a heap of refining, but nothing worth mentioning. It was mainly about refining what we had in Jen that bit further really, whether that turns into lap time or not, we aren’t sure, but every car you build always goes one better, so let’s see what we can do.”

Whincup heads to Sydney looking to take his 100th Supercars win.