Jamie Whincup says he’ll assess his workload at Red Bull Ampol Racing after his first three months as team principal before committing to co-driving in the Bathurst 1000.
Last year, the seven-time champion called an end to full-time driving in the Repco Supercars Championship.
In his place, Broc Feeney will pilot the #88 Holden ZB Commodore alongside #97 driver Shane van Gisbergen.
Whincup has contested every Bathurst 1000 since 2002, and although he’s not hankering to get back in a Supercar straight away, he is planning to contest the Great Race later this year.
“I haven’t completely confirmed that, but that’s certainly my plan to co-drive,” Whincup told Speedcafe.com.
“The opportunity is there if I want it, I’m just gauging the workload in the first three months of the year.
“If the workload is controllable, then I’d certainly love to drive the car at the biggest race of the year.”
Whincup said he’s conscious he can make it happen with the support of team manager Mark Dutton and technical director Jeromy Moore.
Evidence of that was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw former team principal Roland Dane absent for the lion’s share of events in 2020.
Asked if it was made easier with that support, Whincup replied, “It is in this team because we’ve got a team manager and we’ve got a technical director.
“The managing director role on a big weekend, there’s certainly the capability of me being able to drive the car as well.
“The team runs itself with the personnel here. My job is to make sure it keeps growing and keeps being as strong and keeps evolving well into the future.
“Time will tell what job I’m doing if the team just maintains and flatlines from here on in, then I’ve done a poor job. If it keeps growing at the same rate it has been the last 15 years, then I’ve done a good job.”
Also to consider is its mainstays Garth Tander and Craig Lowndes.
Tander has been a staple alongside van Gisbergen in the past three years.
Lowndes, meanwhile, has been a co-driver for Triple Eight Race Engineering ever since he retired from full-time driving at the end of 2018.
Although Whincup said neither Lowndes nor Tander have been signed, the addition of another wildcard could make that decision easier if push came to shove.
“Both of them aren’t signed to the team as co-drivers as of yet, but that’s certainly our intention,” Whincup said of Lowndes and Tander.
“We’d certainly like to [run a wildcard]. Nothing confirmed yet, but we’d love to run a third car at the biggest race of the year.
“Most teams have a spare car, so we’ve got a car there, the same car we did the wildcard in at Bathurst last year. We’ll see. We’ll try to make it happen.”
This year’s Bathurst 1000 is slated for October 6-9 at Mount Panorama.
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