Triple Eight’s Jamie Whincup says that the team heads into the Supercars season finale at Adelaide with the same fight it had at Round 1 – and every event this year.
With Shane van Gisbergen having wrapped up his second consecutive title – the third of his career – with his victory on the Saturday of the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, and the teams’ title being clinched by Red Bull Ampol Racing on the following day, they head into the season finale with little to prove.
Yet Whincup says that the Banyo-based team is taking nothing for granted and won’t be taking the foot off the gas in what with be the final main game race for the Holden brand, and a resounding return to Adelaide after the race was taken off the Supercars calendar.
“We don’t engage in any race unless we think we can win it, and give it absolutely everything we’ve got,” the seven-time Supercars champion told Speedcafe.com. “We’ll do absolutely no different in Adelaide, but it’s a gruelling event, so we’ll put our heads down and do the best we can.”
The Triple Eight boss recently told Speedcafe.com that van Gisbergen’s domination this season, which saw him record the greatest number of wins in a single season at 21 and counting – knocking off fellow New Zealander Scott McLaughlin for the record in the process – is simply the Kiwi champion doing his job.
Van Gisbergen also hinted at looking beyond Supercars if next season’s new Gen3 Supercars don’t provide the nourishment that the Kiwi is looking for.
Fellow Red Bull driver, Broc Feeney, won the three-hour Motorsport Australia Endurance Championship race at last weekend’s Supercheap Bathurst International for Triple Eight, but in his rookie year is yet to post his first Supercars win. He sits sixth in the Supercars championship ahead of David Reynolds and behind Dick Johnson Racing’s Anton De Pasqaule.