Retiring Whincup 'heavy-hearted' after full-time swansong
Retiring seven-time champion Jamie Whincup says it was a "heavy-hearted" feeling completing his final laps as a full-time driver.
Whincup and Craig Lowndes combined to finish fourth in Sunday's Repco Bathurst 1000.
The race, which was won by Walkinshaw Andretti United duo Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth, was Whincup's last start before retirement.
It was a challenging final round for Whincup, who missed out on Saturday's ARMOR ALL Top Ten Shootout by just 0.2s.
Whincup entered his final race with 124 career wins, 237 podiums and 92 pole positions - the most in each of those categories in Supercars history.
“It was only starting to sink in on the last few laps that this would be the last time I’d be in a Supercar as a full-time driver,” Whincup said.
“That heavy-hearted feeling definitely started to settle in.
“We fought hard to get a podium today, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
“I’m pretty proud of the day and what everyone has achieved over the last few weeks.
“It’s more than acceptable to run fourth.
“Even though the car was great, no one was touching #25 [Mostert and Holdsworth] today, but my car was as good as the other cars on the podium.
“The young kids were racing hard, and I knew what I had to do to get past them, but I couldn’t fully commit and trust myself to have a red-hot crack and battle for a podium position.
Whincup and Lowndes finished fourth
“I didn’t want to race the last 20-laps running the wall every lap and really taking risks, and I didn’t want to take that chance.”
Ahead of the Great Race, Whincup became the 23rd inductee into the Supercars Hall of Fame.
He was awarded his third Barry Sheene on Saturday, having been recognised as the 'best and fairest' of 2021.
“Overall, I’m amazed by the accolades that I’ve received this weekend – it’s really, truly humbling,” Whincup added.
“To win the Barry Sheene Medal, to have the Prime Minister present me with a Hall of Fame, it was so surreal.
“I want to make sure I don’t waste these accolades in any way - I owe this sport so much.
“I just come in to do my job, and this sport, this team has done so much for me.
“I’ll never be able to repay the debt, but I’ll do what I can to bring on the next generation and give back to the sport which has given so much to me.”
Whincup finished second in the 2021 standings, 211 points behind teammate van Gisbergen.
He will move into the Managing Director and Team Principal role at Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2022.
The 13-event 2022 Repco Supercars Championship will commence in Newcastle next year. Tickets for the event are on sale now.
The 13-round draft calendar was released on Sunday.
