Braking News: Motorsport news and views ahead of Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama
They missed out of the Top-10 Shootout, but co-driver Craig Lowndes still hasn’t ruled out a fairytale send-off for long-time teammate and four-time Bathurst champion Jamie Whincup.
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Craig Lowndes has vowed to do everything in his power to help give long-time teammate Jamie Whincup a fairytale send-off in the Bathurst 1000 in the seven-time Supercars champion’s final race as a full-time driver.
In their final stand together as one of the Bathurst’ most successful driver pairings, the retiring Whincup and co-driver Lowndes will have to start from 11th on the grid for the Great Race after just missing out on a spot in the top-10 shootout.
Four-time Bathurst champion Whincup has not given up hope of ending his decorated career on a high but acknowledged the job had been made harder after missing the top 10 in what the V8 great described as a tiring week ahead of his farewell race.
Lowndes’ pledge came as Whincup was honoured as the 2021 Barry Sheene medallist as the ‘best and fairest’ in Supercars.
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It was the third time Whincup has won the sport’s top individual award after claiming it in 2007 and 2008.
After experiencing a fairytale result in his own final year as a full-time Supercars driver when he won the Bathurst 1000 with Steven Richards in 2018, Lowndes said he was determined to do what he could to try and send Whincup out on a high.
And he said it could still be done from their starting place on the grid.
“Get him on the podium full stop but hopefully on the top step, that’s my aim,” Lowndes said.
“It would mean a huge amount (to do that). I know what he’s going through.
“I think he is quite relaxed to be honest, which is great.
“The pressure is off him now in one sense after we are out of the (shootout). Now we just need to make it a good race car, which I think we have done.
“We have just got to see what happens and then stay out of trouble, go through all our scenarios and then hand him the car and hopefully he can bring it home strong.
“The car is a good race car.”
It has been a big build-up for Whincup to his final race before he takes over as Triple Eight team boss from next year.
The greatest championship driver in Supercars history didn’t rule out his chances of fighting to the front but said his qualifying result had made it hard after a draining week.
“(To miss) out on the shootout was disappointing,” Whincup said.
“It’s been pretty hard to concentrate this week to be honest with everything that’s going on but anyway, no excuses, the performance just wasn’t good enough.
“I would probably be more confident (of our chances) if we had got in the shootout.
“We were competitive in qualifying, but we just didn’t have the pace so that’s all I can say.
“It’s hard just to focus purely on performances but we’ll do what we can.”
Lowndes and Whincup won three consecutive Bathurst 1000’s together for Triple Eight from 2006 to 2008.
The pair raced for one more year together at Mount Panorama in 2009 before re-forming as a Bathurst combination in 2019.
Whincup, who won his fourth Bathurst 1000 title in 2012 with Paul Dumbrell, said he was just trying to enjoy his last full-time race — and last with Lowndes — as much as he could.
“I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as possible but (I’m) pretty tired at the same time,” Whincup said.
“I’m just trying to balance it all up. We’re going to try to enjoy it as much as we can.
“A result would be good but it’s almost the situation that makes it difficult to put in your best performance because there is so much going on.”
Lowndes said the pair’s Bathurst wins together were some of the most memorable of his career, which included the emotional 2006 victory shortly after Peter Brock’s passing.
The seven-time Bathurst 1000 champion said Whincup had sealed his place as an all-time great of the sport.
“He’s the greatest of his era, there is no doubt about that,” Lowndes said.
“You look at his stats and his records and his results, he has definitely got that, there is no argument along that side of it.
“I was lucky enough to be the first to 100 (wins) but he has eclipsed that. He has been a thorn in my side for many years.
“He raised the bar when he got involved in Supercars, he pushed me to my limits and he has been pushing the young kids, this new generation coming through.
“There is no doubt he is the greatest of his era.”
Push to pass: Game changer coming to Supercars
Supercars could be revolutionised by “push to pass” with Dick Johnson revealing an overtaking button could be included on the new generation Mustang.
Set to be unveiled alongside the first Camaro Supercar at Bathurst this week, the all-new Ford will feature a game changing Coyote engine that will make a Formula One like push to pass system possible in a Supercar.
Speaking ahead of his team’s bid to win yet another Bathurst 1000 crown, Ford legend Johnson said he would support push to pass after revealing the all new 5.4 litre Ford Performance Racing engine would make it possible.
“It is replacing an engine (302 Windsor) which came out in 1955 so a lot of innovation will be possible,” Johnson said.
“Its power will have to be limited because it is a quad cam, 5.4 litre engine but it is all fly by wire and electronically controlled so that means we will be able to do all sorts of things like have push to pass.
“If we have the power at 60 or 70 per cent throttle, we will have that extra bit that can be used as a passing measure.”
The greatest Ford warrior of them all, Johnson said he would support push to pass and any other innovation that made for better racing.
“We don’t want it to be follow the leader so I am for any innovation,” Johnson said.
“We might as well use the technology we will have.”
Formula One introduced KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) in 2009 in an innovation that allowed drivers to use stored energy as an overtaking tool.
BATHURST TO BASH
JESSICA Yates is set to add the Big Bash to the remarkable year of commentating that began just five weeks after she had a baby.
Adding cricket to a broadcasting portfolio that already includes NRL and Supercars, Yates will be parachuted straight into the Big Bash following the V8 season ending Bathurst 1000.
The undisputed Mrs Everywhere of Australian sport, Yates has not had time off since she returned to work in May nursing a newborn baby.
“I have taken Samuel on all my trips away this year,” Yates said.
“He came to Tailem Bend, to Darwin, and then to Queensland for two months. He was away until I came home to cover the NRL final’s series in Sydney.
“He was just five weeks old when I took him to Tailem Bend. My darling mother came with me to help and stayed with him back in the hotel. I was breastfeeding so we were doing Uber Eats express feeding and getting bottles delivered back to the hotel.”
While she admits covering three sports can be a challenge, Yates said she would not have it any other way.
“It is a challenge to know the names, faces and stats of every player when you are covering three sports,” Yates said.
“I have my work cut out for me in my research but I have a lot of good people around me to help.
“I like the variety. It keeps me sharp. Working across different sports and broadcasts pushes me to be better. I love being busy and there is always something next.”
Yates could not single out the sport she preferred to cover.
“I love broadcasting so I don’t care what I am covering,” Yates said.
“We have great teams across all sports and it is unbelievable to be able to work with the likes of Greg Alexander, Mark Skaife and now Brett Lee. From my point of view, I just feel incredibly privileged to get to work with such talented broadcasters.”
Foxtel and Kayo will feature a 24/7 dedicated Bathurst channel this week featuring Bathurst specials and documentaries and every practice and qualifying session leading into Sunday’s Great Race.
BACK ON TRACK
Popular V8 analyst Mark “Larko” Larkham and pit lane reporter Charli Robinson will be back trackside with the Supercars broadcast team at Mount Panorama this week.
Due to border restrictions, Larkham had presented his expert segments remotely from the DJR workshop in Queensland during the four rounds at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Mum-of-two Robinson was also missing from the team for the Sydney races and will be back behind the microphone for the Great Race.
A full garage set-up, including a complete Mustang race car in Penrith colours from Grove Racing, has been promised for Larkham’s fan-favourite segments during the telecast.
It comes as the scale of the broadcast operation for the biggest race of the year can be revealed.
There will be 250 crew and 170 cameras, not including teams, involved in bringing the Bathurst 1000 coverage into living rooms across the country.
New shots have been added to the track coverage with 29 track cameras capturing the action alongside in-car, helmet and chopper cams.
GEN3 REVEAL
Ford Performance Global director Mark Rushbrook will be at Bathurst on Friday for the Supercars Gen 3 launch.
Braking News has been told the US based Ford heavy-hitter will fly in especially for the unveiling of the new Mustang.
The new Ford Mustang GT and General Motors Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which will be on track in the series from 2023, will be unveiled at Mount Panorama.
Who will have the honour of taking the new Ford and GM models for their first public spin has yet to be confirmed but it’s understood Triple Eight duo Jamie Whincup, Shane van Gisbergen (for GM), DJR pair Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale (Ford) and Supercars commentators Mark Skaife and Neil Crompton are in the mix.
TITLE HUNT
Australian rising star Oscar Piastri will return to racing for the first time in more than two months this week as he closes in on the F2 championship.
After being confirmed as Alpine F1 team’s reserve driver for 2022 this month, Piastri is now focused on sealing the F2 crown in his rookie year when he is back on track for the second last round of the season at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah.
Piastri holds a 36-point lead in the F2 championship over China’s Guanyu Zhou, who secured a seat for the Alfa Romeo F1 team alongside Valtteri Bottas next year.
The 20-year-old young gun and the rest of the F2 field have not raced since the last round was held in Sochi, Russia, in late September.
Despite his healthy lead in the championship, Piastri said he didn’t have the title in the bag yet.
“We’ve got a comfortable (points) lead, not commanding, so we’re remaining focused on the job ahead,” Piastri said.
“The goal is to come away with the best result we can achieve, then bring home the big trophy the following week in Abu Dhabi.”
If he can secure the F2 championship, Piastri will join Mercedes-bound George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in an elite club of drivers to have won back-to-back F3 (GP3) and F2 titles as rookies.
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Originally published as Braking News: Motorsport news and views ahead of Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama
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