Whincup emotional as Feeney replicates 2006 win

Jamie Whincup was emotional as Broc Feeney replicated his 2006 Adelaide victory on Sunday.

Whincup claimed his very first win as a Triple Eight rookie in 2006 with the #88 on the car.

16 years later, Feeney did exactly the same — with Whincup his team boss for the moment.

Feeney — who became the youngest ever Adelaide 500 winner — later described the victory as the best moment of his life.

Roland Dane, the team boss for the 2006 win, told Whincup that the feeling was the same.

Feeney took victory with parents Paul and Sue trackside, as well as childhood friend and Formula 2 star Jack Doohan.

The win brought Whincup full circle — his 2006 victory also came under extreme pressure from Todd Kelly.

Feeney had to outlast Chaz Mostert — who races for the same team as Kelly did — to secure the win.

The win helped Feeney clinch sixth overall in the points, four positions higher than Whincup managed in 2006.

Whincup would go on to win seven of the next 11 championships between 2007 and 2017.

“It was quite emotional,” Whincup told Supercars’ Cool Down Lap podcast.

“He’s a good kid from a good family.

"RD came up to me and said, ‘Mate, I know how you’re feeling, it’s exactly the same when you crossed the line in ’06’.

“I couldn’t be happier for the kid, he did a fantastic job.”

Whincup wins in the #88 in 2006

It sent Dane back 16 years, having himself taken a punt on a young driver.

"Jamie was winning his first race here on the Sunday in a Triple Eight car, and with Todd Kelly chasing him down, a second behind, and kept cool under pressure for the last 30-odd laps,” Dane said.

“Just so reminiscent of that, and that was the birth of a champion there, and Broc replicated that this afternoon.

"He beat yesterday’s winner – Chaz is a top two or three driver in the championship at the moment, for sure – and he beat him fair and square."

Feeney’s victory capped a remarkable season for Triple Eight, which won 22 of the season’s 34 races.

Triple Eight became the first team to win the Supercars drivers’ and teams’ titles, the Super2 title and the Bathurst 1000.

It all came in Whincup’s first season in charge, Whincup having taken over from Dane this year.

2006 win 'the birth of a champion'

Feeney's Adelaide win was the 190th for Triple Eight in Commodores in what was Holden’s farewell.

“We’re gonna have a quiet drink and celebrate what’s been an unbelievable year for the team,” Whincup said.

"There were a lot of exceptional performances for the whole team; Shane was one of those.

“He did an unbelievable job, but so did his engineers, so did many others within the team.

“We couldn’t be happier."

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will commence in Newcastle next March.

Tickets are on sale on Supercars.com and Ticketek.com.