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Jamie Whincup won’t be drawn on whether Triple Eight could employ team orders on the Gold Coast this weekend – but admits robbing Erebus of the drivers’ title remains an absolute priority.
With the Supercars season very much at its business end, with just four races over two events remaining, the fierce battle between Triple Eight and Erebus is coming to a head.
After the enduros there are now two very clear title favourites, led by Erebus driver Brodie Kostecki.
He holds a 131-point lead over T8’s Shane van Gisbergen, while Will Brown and Broc Feeney have drifted out of contention, even if they are still mathematically in with a shot.
That raises the question of team orders and whether T8 could throw its weight behind van Gisbergen at any point in the remaining races.
When quizzed on the matter by Speedcafe, T8 managing director Whincup played his cards close to his chest – although did stress the importance of winning the title.
“I won’t get into any of that,” he said.
“All I’ll say is that the drivers’ championship is the biggest trophy of the year. That’s that’s the one we want. Second biggest is Bathurst, And we’re very proud to have that in the cabinet. And then third biggest is the teams’ championship.
“So of course, we’ll do our absolute best to to get that biggest trophy of the year.
“Erebus is doing a great job. And in our 20-year history, we’ve pretty much had most teams come at us at some stage for a year or two. At the moment, that’s Erebus and they’re doing a very, very good job. They’re gonna be hard to beat but we’ll put our head down and do what we can.”
Feeney himself was equally coy, although didn’t rule out helping his team-mate if needed.
“I’m not sure, I’m not sure what the go is with that,” he said when asked by Speedcafe.
“I mean, I’ll just go out and do what my best is. And we’ll see what happens.
“But for sure, I mean, he’s the closest [on points]. I’m certainly a longshot at the moment, but I’ll focus on myself. I’m not going to drive around worrying about that… but we’ll do what we can to make sure they’re in a good position.”
Track action for Supercars at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 kicks off at 11:30 local time with the first practice session.
