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Whincup: a miracle if we finish

12 Oct 2014
Tail-shaft vibration spoils Red Bull star's brilliant charge.
2 mins by James Pavey
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Whincup: "It will be a small miracle if it makes it through the day"

Jamie Whincup's record shattering first stint in the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 may be all for nothing because of a tail-shaft vibration in his Red Bull Holden Commodore VF.

Whincup, who drove from 23rd to the lead and broke his own lap record multiple times, is doubtful the car will make it to the finish line.

"The car has a mechanical niggle, a tail-shaft vibration," he told v8supercars.com.au. "So it will be a miracle if it goes for six hours.

"But we will look after it and see if we can get through."

Whether he wins, losses or DNFs, there is no doubt Whincup's stint will be regarded as one of the greatest in the race's history.

Whincup said he was motivated to make up for his crash in Friday qualifying that sent he and co-driver Paul Dumbrell to the rear of the grid.

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"In any team environment no-one wants to be the weakest link and I felt I was the weakest link in qually and I just tried to make up for it.

"I was just pushing on, the car is the best it has been all weekend."

Whincup said the improvement in the car's pace after a week of struggles came about following a fundamental rethink overnight and a move away from chief engineer Ludo Lacroix's low-drag aerodynamic set-up.

"We threw everything up in the air last night, so we gathered all the information we had for the last three days and made an educated guess on the set-up.

"So far it has been ok, but being fast in the morning isn't that important. You have to be fast at the end of the day.

"Ludo loves going fast down the straight but we love going fast around the corners. We have just done our own normal thing. The car is very similar to last year."

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