Winless Jamie’s still in the race
JAMIE Whincup hasn’t jagged a race win yet in 2017 but he says any talk about a changing of the guard and the demise of Red Bull Racing as a Supercars title contender is far from accurate.
The Gold Coast driver, a six-times series champion, is experiencing his worst season start in four years after Ford’s DJR Team Penske confirmed at Perth they were the Supercars outfit to beat in 2017.
Scott McLaughlin sealed a clean sweep of the fourth round at Barbagallo Raceway with a dominant 200km race win on Sunday.
The knives are now out for Red Bull Racing after Whincup remained without a victory following the year’s first eight races.
It is his worst start to a season since he went winless in the first seven events of 2013.
Yet Whincup seemed to wonder what all the fuss was about.
Asked if he believed McLaughlin’s dominance officially marked a changing of the guard, a bemused Whincup said: “Not at all. All the questions have pointed toward doom and gloom and it’s not the case at all.
“We are hanging in there. There is a lot of water to pass under the bridge until (the final round in) Newcastle.”
Overall Red Bull Racing have won six of the past seven drivers titles thanks to Whincup and teammate, defending series champion Shane van Gisbergen.
However, Whincup had no answer to McLaughlin, who broke the Holden star’s six-year-old Barbagallo Raceway lap record on his way to storming to back-toback wins on the weekend.
Whincup could only scramble to a distant third in both races in Perth.
However, he took solace in the fact he was still well in the drivers standings mix.
Ford’s Fabian Coulthard (802) leads the series pointscore before this month’s next round in Victoria.
Next are van Gisbergen (783) and Whincup (780) with McLaughlin tied with Ford’s Chaz Mostert (771).
“I am happy. I have had two podiums here,” Whincup said. “It (winless season start) is not a concern at all.”
History shows Whincup should not be dismissed as a title threat just yet.
He recovered from his winless 2013 season start to storm to a fifth Supercars championship.
Whincup sensed a similar comeback would be launched at the next round in Winton from May 19.
“It will be a different kettle of fish down at Winton,” he said. “It will be cold, potentially wet on a tight little twisty track – it is completely different to Perth.
“That’s the great thing about this sport. We can go to different tracks and different challenges.”