TEAM TO HONOUR RED BULL HERO
TRIPLE Eight Race Engineering will pay tribute to the Steve Jobs of motorsport at the Gold Coast 500 on Sunday when the team remembers Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, who died aged 78 last weekend.
Mateschitz’s passion for motorsport was a key driver in Red Bull moving into the space and following heady success in Formula 1, the energy drink giant came on board as a naming rights sponsor to Triple Eight in 2013.
Since then the Red Bull brand has won six of the past nine Supercars teams championships and could make it seven as soon as this weekend on the Gold Coast, with Triple Eight boasting a sizeable gap atop the standings.
Fittingly Red Bull wrapped up the Formula 1 constructors’ championship at the United States Grand Prix last weekend before paying tribute to its founder. The same could happen in Supercars at Surfers Paradise on Sunday and Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup confirmed the team was planning “something special” to honour Mateschitz.
“We’ll do something special in the garage on Sunday before the race.
We’ll keep it simple of course but we’ll certainly make sure we show our respects for the great man,” Whincup said.
“He was an inspirational guy that has simply made a lot of peoples’ lives better. He’s given us an opportunity to go racing, have fun and be the best we can be and it’s that ethos that’s shared among every single person that works at Red Bull and that ethos bleeds across to Triple Eight Race Engineering.”
Seven-time Supercars champion Whincup was behind the wheel for the majority of Triple Eight’s title successes with Red Bull. Now he’s pulling the strings as team principal while Shane van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney spearhead the team’s continued dominance in the sport.
“Since Red Bull came on as the naming rights sponsor, we’ve been the Red Bull team. They’ve had a huge influence (on the team) and it stems from the top, it stems from that one guy,” Whincup said.
“No doubt the legacy will continue and go from strength to strength but I personally want to recognise what an innings the great man has had and how he’s made my life better.
“In our world (Mateschitz’s death) is as big as Steve Jobs was to the tech world. He’s been an inspirational part, but the world goes on. Maybe not quite as strong, but the world and the brand goes on. I think it’s time now to recognise what good he’s brought to the sport.”
Red Bull has funnelled tens of millions in sponsorship dollars into the team since coming on board almost a decade ago.
Roland Dane was Triple Eight managing director when the deal with Red Bull was struck – something he labelled “a major milestone in the history of Triple Eight”. “It certainly helped enormously to keep the team at the sharp end of the grid,” he said.