Whincup explains issue behind costly Triple Eight pit mishap
Broc Feeney/jamie Whincup crawled to 19th in Bend enduro
Refuelling issue dropped #88 Camaro out of contention early
Airlock in refuelling vent behind costly pit stop issue
Jamie Whincup has lamented a "long old day" caused by a botched fuel stop, which saw the pole-sitting car finish 19th in the AirTouch 500 at The Bend.
Whincup and Broc Feeney crawled to 19th in Sunday's race won by the Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Mustang of Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood.
After running second early from pole, Whincup emerged from the first pit stop cycle 20 seconds behind leader Hazelwood, and was forced to pit again for fuel just 10 laps later.
Pushing hard to make up time, Whincup fired off twice, and Feeney could only race to 19th in the final stint. Feeney also lamented the fuel issue, and suggested Whincup's dual errors at Turn 10 were due to a poorly-handling car.
Speaking post-race, Whincup explained that an airlock in the refuelling vent was behind the mishap.
"Disappointing end of the weekend. There was no sign whatsoever all weekend that we were weren't going to have the pace in the race but ultimately that's what happened... we just didn't have the pace," Whincup said."
"I got off to a good start, we led from the start and had clear track, but I just got mowed down by the DJR car and then Frosty [Mark Winterbottom] was coming as well. He was going to be a big problem of ours in the second stint regardless and we saw that coming.
"But unfortunately we never really got to the second stint. We came in for fuel and we're sitting there for 50 seconds with no fuel going in.
"We'll have to analyse it when we get back, but we think there was fuel in the vent which was stopping the air from escaping so the fuel could go in and fill it up. It was like a hydraulic airlock creating compression in the tank so the fuel couldn't come in. That was basically our day.
"The rest of the day we were just trying things, we were doing things with the set up just trying all different lines and all sorts of things just like a bit of a test session after that pit stop issue.
"We were always going to be running around at the back of the pack after something like that. She was a long old day out there, unfortunately."
The sister car of Will Brown/Scott Pye raced from 16th to fourth.
The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship resumes at the Repco Bathurst 1000 on October 9-12. Tickets for the Great Race are on sale now.
