Whincup ticks the box

Jamie Whincup is pleased to have achieved his 2015 Championship goal – finishing in the top five. 

Speaking to v8supercars.com.au about his season, the six-time champ explained his focus for 2015 and why he was heading into the off-season happy, despite losing the number one to long-time rival Mark Winterbottom. 

Whincup struggled through the mid-part of the year, with a high profile switch seeing Mark Dutton step back from his team manager role to engineer Whincup in hope of a turnaround from Townsville. 

The Red Bull racer dropped as low as ninth in the points after the first race at the North Queensland street circuit, but clawed his way back up to fifth in the last race in Sydney, clearing HRT’s Garth Tander by 63 points after finishing second in the last dash of the year. 

“My goal was top five, actually, and to win plenty of races – so my goal certainly wasn’t to win the Championship again,” Whincup said. 

“So, you know, I achieved my goals I’d set out.

“That might sound really silly to some people, it might sound way below what most other people expect. But it was always going to be a tough building year.

“To get Garth Tander in the last race – I think we went in 12 points behind – so to get him in the last race for fifth in the Championship, believe it or not, I go into the off-season quite happy.” 

The team stepped up at Sandown and found some pace, but a pit lane drama was costly. Bathurst was another nightmare with a range of issues during the day, starting with a sensor failure that cost car 1 a 30-second lead while it was assessed by the team. It all went awry when Whincup didn’t pit when called later on and passed the safety car, incurring a drive through penalty. 

He described the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 as the most disappointing run of the year, given winning that iconic race was also high on the priority list. 

“My goal was to win Bathurst as well – it wasn’t the championship this year, it was certainly to finish in the top five of the championship – and to win Bathurst.

“Hence why it was very disappointing to lose that race, being 30 seconds ahead half way through the day.”

It was another shocker in the first race on the Gold Coast after an early incident with co-driver Paul Dumbrell and the Nissan Altima steered by Taz Douglas. 

But the switch in results started there on the Sunday with a top 10 finish and podiums for the final nine races, including five wins. 

Auckland’s victories were particularly important for Whincup, who won the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy for the first time in honour of his former teammate. 

Now, the 32-year old is ready for some well-deserved downtime across the Christmas break, and knows next year will pose more challenges with the addition of Shane van Gisbergen to the team. 

“It should be a good battle,” he said of the contest. Van Gisbergen, who is considered one of the most talented and flamboyant drivers in the field, finished just ahead of Whincup in the standings this year, nudging up to fourth with his run at the final round in Sydney. 

“Everyone else is not going to go away – [but] we will have a ding dong battle all year and hopefully it’s appreciated and we make the sport better for it.”

Stay tuned next week for Whincup’s full season in review interview on v8supercars.com.au.