Bathurst 1000 2022: Jamie Whincup denies he pulled rank after missing top-10 shootout spot

Shane van Gisbergen was almost unbackable for Bathurst, but a three-spot grid penalty has the champ back in the pack.

Will Davison at the Sandown SuperSprint. Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

Runaway series leader Shane van Gisbergen has been handed a three-spot grid penalty for the Bathurst 1000 after an incident late in Friday’s qualifying session.

The defending Supercars champion finished fourth in the wet qualifying session, but came under investigation by race stewards for an incident with Brad Jones Racing’s Macauley Jones on his final timed lap.

Van Gisbergen made contact with Jones at turn 13, sending the BJR driver sliding into the outside wall and sustaining heavy damage to the rear of the car.

The stewards later confirmed the penalty, which will be applied to the qualifying position after Saturday’s top 10 shootout.

Triple Eight team manager Mark Dutton said the team accepted the stewards’ decision.

“Shane thought that he moved over enough to sort of wave him past, drivers do that a fair bit, so there was some miscommunication between the drivers there,” Dutton said.

“We’re disappointed that it ended our lap but obviously more disappointed that it caused damage to their car and their crew have to work hard to fix that overnight so you never want that.

“We’ll go through our car, make sure that there was no damage sustained because we still had contact, but I feel more for the BJR crew who have to fix their car.

“Shane did as much as he could when he realised Macauley wasn’t letting (him) past to get out of it, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to avoid contact.”

The 2020 Bathurst 1000 champion, van Gisbergen holds a 525-point lead in the Supercars championship entering the race at Mount Panorama.

Commenting on the penalty, BJR team owner Brad Jones said:

“Here you can win the race from last place ... it’s just disappointing,” Jones said.

“Even in the dry, you can’t get two cars through that part of the track. So, I think Shane, I’m a little unsure what he was thinking. Clearly, he was committed and he was trying to pass.

“It was just maybe a bit of rush of blood from his side, I’m not sure. Look, the penalty is the penalty, it has done so much damage to the car, but we will sort it out and get it going again for tomorrow.

“The stewards said that he (van Gisbergen) was apologetic about it, it’s just unfortunate.”

‘I DIDN’T PULL RANK’: LEGEND DEFENDS BENCHING BATHURST ROOKIE

Triple Eight team boss Jamie Whincup denied he pulled “rank” to put himself in the car for Bathurst 1000 qualifying instead of rookie Broc Feeney after he missed a spot in the top-10 shootout.

In a change of plans ahead of a wet Friday qualifying, Triple Eight made the decision to put co-driver Whincup in the car instead of 19-year-old Feeney but the seven-time Supercars champion finished outside of the top-10 in 14th position.

Whincup had said after practice on Thursday that Feeney, who stepped into Whincup’s race seat in 2022 after the V8 great’s retirement from full-time driving at the end of last year, would be in the car for qualifying on Friday.

But the four-time Bathurst 1000 winner, now the team principal, said the team’s engineers and team manager Mark Dutton had made the decision to put him in the car.

“It completely wasn’t my decision, it was the engineers’ decision,” Whincup said.

“They said ‘Mate, you’re in for qualifying’. So, I do what they say and put my suit on and in I went.

“Broc was comfortable with that, for sure. We try to get the best result for the team.

“The last thing I want is people thinking I called rank and said ‘I’m in for qualifying’. That certainly wasn’t the case.

“I’m here as a co-driver, I’m here to support Broc and the team and the decision from ‘Dutto’ and the engineers was for me to qualify. I put my helmet on and got in the car.”

Jamie Whincup denies he pulled rank at Bathurst.

Dutton explained earlier the decision had been based on Feeney’s performance in the wet in practice four and not wanting to “over-pressure” the first-year Supercars driver.

“As you saw in P4, Broc was doing well initially but then didn’t keep progressing so we did not want to over-pressure him,” Dutton said.

“We are the only people in the fortunate position to have a seven-times champion as the co-driver, so it would be a pretty silly move for us not to do it.

“So, (to) relieve the pressure from Broc, he can catch his breath, look at some more data overnight, analyse that and come back tomorrow. The actual decision was made today.”

Whincup said he had no reason to question the decision.

“I employ these guys to do their job and I respect their job,” Whincup said.

“I let them do the engineering and they let me do the driving. So that’s the best way to do it.

“We started off strong and then as the session went on we slowly went backwards ….in relative pace to the rest of the field.

“All in all disappointing not to be in the (top) 10 when we were well and truly in the 10 for most of the session. Looking through it, the strategy probably wasn’t perfect and I was still committed to very wet lines and I should have probably adjusted my driving towards the end of that run as well.”

Broc Feeney. Picture: Matthew Elkerton

Whincup said the pair would try to “make the most” of their chances from 14th on Sunday.

“You can win this race from any position but that’s what the losers say,” Whincup said.

“We did our best job in qualifying and didn’t do a good enough job so of course we would have liked to have started up the grid more, but it is what it is and we’ll just make the most of what we can do on Sunday.”

Feeney said he was comfortable with the decision as he continued to build up his confidence in a Supercar in the wet.

“I struggled quite a bit out there myself at the start of P4, but I’m still building up my confidence in a Supercar at this track in the wet,” Feeney said.

“We put Jamie in at the end of the session to make sure everything was all good and he went really well. He went straight to the top and ended up in P2, so the decision was made to put Jamie in the car for qualifying just on the basis that he was faster.

“It’s a good thing for me - I was happy to sit back and was well and truly happy for him to qualify today.

“We just missed it towards the end of qualifying which is a shame, but we managed to get P14 and we know we can do it from there.”

Shane van Gisbergen on the track at Bathurst.

Davison’s vow to break Holden hearts

Ford veteran Will Davison has vowed to try to “break the hearts” of Holden as the iconic Commodore prepares for its final fling around Mount Panorama in the Bathurst 1000.

In the final chapter of the Ford v Holden rivalry which has been the foundation of Supercars for decades, Holden will say a final farewell in the Great Race before it is replaced by the General Motors Camaro for the start of the sport’s Gen3 era next year.

Dual Bathurst 1000 winner Davison will lead the charge of the Ford drivers out to spoil the Holden farewell party after making a strong start to his Bathurst campaign as the fastest car in opening practice on Thursday.

Holden has won at Bathurst the past two years after Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander triumphed for Triple Eight in 2020 and the Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth pairing won in a Walkinshaw Andretti United Commodore last year.

Will Davison wants to spoil teDaniel Kalisz/Getty Images)

Davison said the rivalry between Ford and Holden had been the lifeblood of the sport, but the DJR squad was hell-bent on upstaging their Holden adversaries one last time.

“Of course we are very focused on breaking their hearts,” Davison said.

“They claimed their one last year as Holden’s last one, but I’m sure everyone will still be cheering them on as hard as ever knowing the Camaro is here next year.

“Definitely it is our plan to spoil that party and that fairytale.

“That’s our plan. That’s what sport is all about isn’t it rivalries and that’s what we love is the passion of rivalries.”

Ford will campaign in a new generation Mustang for the start of the Gen3 era next year, unveiling its new Supercar at Bathurst on Thursday.

V8 legend and DJR team owner Dick Johnson was the first to take the new car for a spin around the iconic circuit.

This year, Davison has been one of the top-two performing Ford drivers, sitting third in the championship behind runaway series leader Shane van Gisbergen and fellow Ford driver Cameron Waters.

Davison has already won the Bathurst 1000 twice in 2009 with Tander and in 2016 with Jonathon Webb.

Paired with his brother Alex again, Davison said it would be special to taste success on the weekend the team is celebrating its 1000th race in the sport.

Will Davison and Jonothan Webb took out Bathurst in 2016. Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

“We have got a special livery on the car celebrating 1000 races. It’s always special coming to this race, let alone being in (car No.17) representing an iconic team,” Davison said.

“It’s the ultimate prize in our sport. It’s something you always work towards and aspire towards, it’s such an amazing race to win.

“We are just focused on our preparation and executing what we do all year long and I’ve got my bro alongside me and we’re going to enjoy every moment.

“You know this race can throw anything at you so you prepare as well as you can but you come in quite-open minded.”

Davison has been one of the top qualifiers this season, sitting on an equal-high eight pole positions alongside Waters and was hoping to continue that form at Bathurst.

“The shootout is a really special session of the year here,” Davison said.

“Qualy has certainly been a strength (this year) so we will just keep doing what we are doing.

“Regardless of the race, it’s a really cool moment for a driver here. I’ve been loving qualifying this year and the No. 17 has had some wicked laps, the car has been so good in qualifying trim this year.

“But we know this is a very unique circuit. We are focused on every day, but ultimately the prize is Sunday afternoon.”