Whincup Aims for the Double - and Lowndes

Jamie Whincup has claimed many records and prizes in his V8 Supercars career and he has set himself a new target in 2013: winning the 500km and 1000km endurance double without Triple Eight teammate Craig Lowndes.

Whincup did the Sandown/Bathurst double with Lowndes back in 2007 in the days when a team’s regular driving roster could pair for the enduros. 

Lowndes went on to win the 500/1000 again in 2010 with Mark Skaife (albeit with the 500 at Phillip Island). Whincup hasn’t been able to emulate that achievement.

But having won the Wilson Security Sandown 500 last month with Paul Dumbrell, Whincup now has the chance to do the double by also claiming the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

The Sandown win was full of merit as Whincup raced back through the field after a drive through penalty for spinning wheels in a pit stop. He led home the Lowndes/Warren Luff combination in a Red Bull 1-2.

If he achieves the double Whincup says it would be a major feat, as it would mean overcoming a driver who is brilliant at Bathurst driving a Red Bull Holden Commodore VF the equal of his own – as well as a bunch of other hot-shot rivals. 

“It’s possible to do the double, Lowndesy did that in 2010,” Whincup told v8supercars.com.au.

“We will go up there and put in the same dedication and the same preparation as we did at Sandown and put our best foot forward and may the best man win up there.”

Doing the double has not been that rare an achievement in recent seasons, as Garth Tander and Will Davison also managed it in 2009 for the Holden Racing Team. But no combination has managed it since 2010.

“Just winning one of the races is extremely hard, so winning both is extremely, extremely hard,” said Whincup. “What I am saying is it would be more special doing it without Craig.

“When you are in the same car you don’t have to compete against Craig, so the difficult bit is he is your opposition, he always performs unbelievably well come enduro time and he did that at Sandown. I expect no different at Bathurst."

Whincup stressed his respect for Lowndes and emphasised that the garage would work together to find competitive speed for both cars and then battle it out on the track. He said that played a key role in the Sandown result. 

“It was very much a team effort at Sandown so those guys on the other side of the garage are doing a really good job as far as investing in the team’s interest and not just themselves,” Whincup said. “We are working hard to do the same back, which is why I wanted to highlight it was a Red Bull one-two and not just that car 1 won on the day.”

Whincup and Lowndes have now been teammates for nearly eight seasons, a period that has netted Whincup four V8 Supercars Championships and four Bathurst wins, while Lowndes has finished runner-up four times in the Championship and won Bathurst four times.

Lowndes also won the Championship three times at HRT in the 1990s and Bathurst once. This year Whincup leads the Championship with Lowndes second, just 96 points behind. 

“Craig is going to be everyone’s biggest threat, he will perform unbelievably well on the day like he always does and that 888 car is going to be seriously strong for everyone,” said Whincup.

“It (winning Bathurst) will be more valuable from the fact that when you are teaming up with Craig you don’t have to beat him. He is in the same car… to be able to beat Craig and 888 on the day in any event is a tall ask.”

Whincup admitted that setting the double as a goal was an active attempt to overcome the pitlane perception that winning the 500 ruled you out of contention for the 1000.

“The thinking is there could be a little bit of a mentality that if you have won the 500 then you don’t deserve Bathurst,” he explained. “In pitlane it’s ‘oh yeah you’ve got that one we’ll take the next one’. There is somewhat that sort of mentality. 

“But the double is definitely possible. I am trying to justify to myself not to psyche myself out of Bathurst because there are plenty of people who have done the double.”

Winning Bathurst would also put Whincup and Dumbrell in the box seat for the first ever PIRTEK Enduro Cup, which concludes at the ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600 in late October. Tickets are still available for both the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and the Gold Coast event.