Whincup won’t go quietly
Supercars driver claiming Bathurst conspiracy to make him the bad guy
His appeal may have failed but this year’s Bathurst 1000 fallout is not going away, after Jamie Whincup took aim at Supercars boss James Warburton for “playing dirty”.
The six-time Supercars champion also accused TV networks of doctoring race audio to suggest he didn’t follow team orders, leading to the infamous incident at the iconic race.
Remaining defiant ahead of this weekend’s Gold Coast 600, Whincup is still adamant that he did nothing wrong.
Whincup’s appeal against a 15-second time penalty that cost him a fifth Great Race on October 9 was dismissed by the Supercars National Court of Appeal in Melbourne on Tuesday.
He was penalised for his role in a late incident that ended the winning hopes of Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin and Holden’s Garth Tander.
Holden’s Will Davison and codriver Jonathon Webb had to wait nine days before officially celebrating the Bathurst win after Whincup’s appeal was dismissed.
“I call it a debacle,” Whincup wrote in a no-holds-barred website post.
“Tekno (Davison, Webb) not being able to celebrate properly like they should.
“Supercars Australia branding us un-Australian and playing dirty by slamming us in the media.
“The TV crews cutting radio audio and pasting in over the top of footage laps later in an attempt to further fuel the ‘I don’t listen to my team’ criticism.
“All the man hours for the appeal could have all been avoided straight after the race!”
Whincup was making contact
If you don’t take an ontrack opportunity when it presents itself, you’re no longer a racing driver. Jamie Whincup, Red Bull Racing Holden driver
penalised for while passing McLaughlin on lap 150 at Mount Panorama. McLaughlin speared off the track but managed to veer back on, only to make contact with Tander in a spectacular crash.
Whincup still insisted “the move was on”.
“Sometimes you can watch a replay and change your opinion of what went on but I’ve now watched the incident where contact was made between Scotty and I at the chase 1000 times and my opinion has not changed,” he said.
“As the late great Ayrton Senna once said, if you don’t take an ontrack opportunity when it presents itself, you’re no longer a racing driver.
“The day I don’t take an opportunity like the one that presented itself down at the chase on Sunday is the day I’ll happily hang my helmet up and give my spot to some young kid that will have a go.”
Whincup offered an olive branch to Supercars Australia, saying he would like to work with them to improve the penalty process.