Whincup's response to fans criticism of the decision:
LET me say right from the start that I fully support TeamVodafone's decision to race Holdens next year.
I am proud to say that I will be associated with the Australian icon.
However, ever since we announced the decision today, I have been bombarded with questions, especially on my website.
I could be very weak and say it's got nothing to do with me, but I honestly fully support the team with what they've done.
I personally think there are three different types of fans.
First, we have had a huge response from the Holden fans who think it's fantastic news and are welcoming us on board.
Then you have the driver and team fans who are also in favour of the decision. They see the partnership as a good one that will allow us to deliver results.
Then we have the hard-core Ford fans who are bitterly disappointed with what's happened.
I've been getting this massive abuse from all these Ford people asking why I'm not loyal to the brand, but how can you be?
I don't feel any loyalty to Ford because they showed none to me.
Once you become a bit abusive for changing manufacturers it think it's important that these people look at the facts before they get too vocal.
The fact is that at the moment we don't have any manufacturer support.
At the end of 2008 when I won my first championship I personally approached Ford and pleaded with them to come up with some type of arrangement where they could use my win to get some good publicity.
While I tried for many months to reach agreement they chose to walk away.
They weren't interested in doing anything with myself or the team.
I tried my best to align myself to them and they showed me no loyalty whatsoever.
Therefore when the opportunity came up with Holden - which they embraced with open arms - straight up it was a great decision.
The Holden product is a fantastic product and TeamVodafone builds a fantastic race car and combined they will be a powerful combination.
It's a great step forward and it's also a nostalgic step backwards for me because I started with a Holden in 2003.
I didn't enjoy the success I wanted with them, but this now gives me the opportunity to get the Red Lion over the line.
Everyone knows what a big fan I am of Valentino Rossi who won world motorcycle championships with Honda and then moved to Yamaha and won again.
Well, I hope I can do a Rossi and win with Holden, too. No one has ever won championships with Holden and Ford, so with myself having achieved most of my goals in V8s this offers brand new goals and challenges.
But first I have to focus on the remainder of this year, starting with the big job I've got ahead of me this weekend at Sandown.
If I thought this announcement would have affected my performance I wouldn't have been involved.
So after this announcement all will be forgotten until the end of the year. It will be business as usual tomorrow.
I'll go home and do my normal preparation, look at video from last year, go over the data and immerse myself on focusing on getting the car the fastest around the track.
