John Bowe's End of Year Review: The Top Five

Here we are with our final five finishers – they showed why they were on the top steps in season 2013.

Shane van Gisbergen: As an outsider looking in I thought the way the Stone Brothers split was handled was unnecessary, but that's my opinion. That aside there is certainly no doubting Shane's ability and his ruthless will to win!

His performance this year was on par for him I thought, no better, no worse.

He finished the year on a high, that's always nice. His drives at Homebush showed how tough he is and how much he wants to win.

At the end of the day, no one races at this level to make friends. So Shane has my admiration for sticking to his guns and racing in V8 Supercars; that after all is what he does best.

Next year with one car and full Triple Eight support, can Tekno roll the big guys or be on par? I think it all depends on who steers the team and who is Shane’s race engineer – that's how important those people have become in our sport.

Mark Winterbottom: Unashamedly, I’m a great admirer of Frosty. From a humble background, his ability and resilience are his fundamental strengths. Let’s face it, without Jamie and Triple Eight Frosty would have been incredibly successful instead of just successful. His loyalty to Ford and FPR is admirable, although in my experience loyalty is very rarely rewarded in this sport!

This year there has been an emergence of a new hard-edged toughness about Mark’s driving and I like it. It makes him very complete.

Can FPR maintain their competitive edge next year? Now, with four cars to prepare – notwithstanding the reduced budgets this year – will that have an affect? Engineering staff changes are questionable. Frosty has many years left in him at the top level, it would be awesome were he to win the title ‘soon’ – in my view, he truly deserves it. He has the Bathurst monkey off his back, finally!

Will Davison: There is no more single minded, dedicated driver in the pit lane than Will Davison. He eats, sleeps, breathes and continually self analyses (maybe a bit too much sometimes). His year was fantastic really, but – and it's a big but – Red Bull/Triple Eight ended up first and second.

Will’s move to Erebus is not as crazy as most people might think. Quite apart from looking after his financial future Erebus do have the resources and people to win races and bring Mercedes AMG right into the game.

In Will Davison, they have a guaranteed race winner on a regular basis – there’s not many of those you can confidently say that about. I’ll watch with genuine interest as his year evolves. There is no way anyone should underestimate this combination long term. Life in motor racing is very cyclical, if you have the money you attract the right people, they build a better mousetrap and that changes their culture – it becomes a winning culture. It’s that evolution that is will continue at Erebus Motorsport this year.

Craig Lowndes: What a fantastic race driver he is, it's hard to believe it's been 20 years since I first raced (discovered) him (hah). He always was an ace and has never faltered (really) except his time with 00 Motorsport where they technically struggled.

Lowndesy must go to bed every night and thank The Good Lord he was persuaded by Roland Dane to join his race team. In the past year he’s proven your talent doesn't drop away at the end of your 30s. He’s smart enough to stay at Triple Eight/Red Bull Racing, I expect Craig will continue to challenge for the Championship for as many years as he wants to. Some of his races this year were extraordinarily brilliant – there’s no better freestyle driver out there!

Jamie Whincup: What can one say about a driver who’s won the Championship for five out of the last six years? He is unquestionably a masterful talent and should be given the highest accolades. I have watched this fella grow to be one of our sports best – if not the best we’ll ever see. Yes, he is that good!

His team run by Roland Dane should also be given the highest accolades. Unlike most sports, motorsport is not about individuals, it's about resource, structure, leadership, resolve and true grit. A few times this year we witnessed Jamie with his back against the wall, and what did he do? He shone like the star he is. Likewise, with Triple Eight Race Engineering. Let’s face it, they design, build race cars, sell components, data, technology and people including to whoever wants them and can afford to pay. They collaborate with teams and support their gear as a commercial service. Yet they still finished first and second in the Championship. Can you imagine a team in Formula One doing that? I don't think so! They have my vote and admiration, I’m in awe of every team member – they are outstanding!

Click here to read my evaluations of the rest of the top 10, the top 20 and final finishers.

Cheers,

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