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Dane: Red Bull Must Trump Opposition

28 Nov 2013
The only 'team order' is to deliver the teams' Championship.
3 mins by James Pavey
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The Championship will come down to the Sydney 500 grand finale – and once again it’s Red Bull teammates Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes battling at the top, separated by 20 points.

And while the question has come up, Red Bull Racing Australia team boss Roland Dane insists the only team order is to deliver the teams' Championship. There is no driver preference, as long as the team gets the #1. 

“The only instruction is going to be to do our absolute best to make sure that one of us wins and not the opposition,” Dane said on the RBRA website.

“As I’ve always said, there are no ‘team orders’ here and we’ll just let it play out on the day as long as we stay ahead of those trying to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

How does the team handle the rivalry between the two cars – which isn’t a new occurence?

“I don’t know really how we handle the inter-car rivalry, we just wing it!” Dane said.

“The issues we face are trying to keep everyone’s ambitions and expectations in check and make sure that they’re working for the team as a whole whilst also hopefully being allowed to race and get on with competing against each other…

“I’d be very disappointed if we didn’t win the teams’ Championship and it’s extremely satisfying to me and everyone else at Triple Eight and it’s very important to us, because of exactly what it is – it’s a teams’ championship.

“It includes every single member of the organisation so if we win it again every single person here knows they were a part of that victory.”

With just over a week to go before the Sydney 500, there is so much talk of the title fight. But that’s all it is – talk.

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“Our position in the Championship is meaningless until we have an outcome at Homebush, so whether we’re first and second or wherever – it’s good to be in (it) at this stage, but nobody cares about that after Sunday night.”

And as for his drivers’ form over the years at the Sydney Olympic Park street circuit?

Dane believes Lowndes is the most successful driver at the event, as he is the only one in the field to have won twice at the tricky street track. He also holds the race lap record, a 1min28.3839 around the 3.42km circuit.

Whincup, on the other hand, has not had a win, podium, or pole position there.

“It’s a tough track, but so is the Gold Coast, so is Townsville, so is Adelaide,” the team boss said.

“Those are tough tracks and we just get on with doing the best we can on the day. The fact that Jamie hasn’t had the best run of results there will probably make him even more determined to do well.”

Read more of Dane’s musings at RBRA's website.

And stay tuned for the Sydney 500, which begins next week on Friday December 6.

Tickets are available now through Ticketek.

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