Van Gisbergen charges after Whincup
ANOTHER year and another title for Jamie Whincup.
For the first half of this year’s season, it looked as if his tight grip on the championship could be coming to an end with Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom in sensational form.
But, as Winterbottom’s car gradually struggled for pace, especially in qualifying, Whincup got more speed out of his Red Bull Racing Holden and eventually won the title with ease.
It wasn’t a totally successful year for Whincup and it will take him a long time to live down the embarrassment he suffered at Bathurst, when he ignored team orders and ran out of fuel on the last lap. That gaffe handed victory in the most important race of the year to Chaz Mostert, Winterbottom’s team-mate.
Whincup may have been crowned V8 Supercars champion for six of the past seven years and can rightfully call himself the greatest driver of the category, but he remains a divisive character.
For all his success, Whincup has more people who dislike than admire him, which is perhaps because of his ruthless personality as much as anything else.
New Zealand’s Shane Van Gisbergen had a Bathurst victory in his sights but disastrously stalled his car while making his final pitstop.
His year ended well with a victory in the final race of the season, in Sydney, which pushed him up to second place overall.
Scott McLaughlin finished the year fifth and looks destined to be a champion in the category in future. He also produced one of the quotes of the year when finishing second in Adelaide, saying: ‘‘I just plucked it in first, gave it some jandal and f... yeah.’’
Meanwhile, Fabian Coulthard had a consistent year to place eighth but recorded just one race win.