Bathurst 1000: ‘Bitter sweet’ moment as Shane van Gisbergen crowned Supercars champion
Shane van Gisbergen arrived at Mount Panorama as the champion elect and one of the hot favourites to defend his Bathurst crown — but things didn’t go to plan.
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Shane van Gisbergen was left with a “bitter sweet” feeling after his Bathurst 1000 title defence was dashed on the day he was officially crowned as Supercars champion.
The Triple Eight star arrived at Mount Panorama as the champion elect and one of the hot favourites to defend his Bathurst crown with Garth Tander but struck trouble late in the race on Sunday.
In hot pursuit of race leader Chaz Mostert, van Gisbergen suffered a tyre delamination with just seven laps to go in the race, forcing him back to the pits.
He finished the race in 18th place.
But the disappointment of his Bathurst 1000 result was softened when he was presented with the Supercars championship trophy - the second of his career after his 2016 win.
After a dominant Supercars season, van Gisbergen said he had mixed emotions after his Bathurst defence came undone.
“It was bitter sweet, you know,” van Gisbergen said.
“I really tried to win that race and congrats to Chaz and Lee (Holdsworth) in that team they were super fast and I gave it everything and just couldn’t quite hold it together.
“It’s been an awesome year otherwise and I’ve got to thank all these legends, it’s been a really, really good year otherwise and we’ll drink a few out of this (championship trophy) tonight.
“Obviously (I’ve got) mixed emotions because of what happened today but we sort of celebrated after Sydney (Motorsport Park) and then today to finally get the trophy, it has been a pretty amazing year.
“(It’s been a) super cool season, we have been competitive all season, we have been competitive every weekend and it was really fun to be a part of this team.”
Van Gisbergen finished the Supercars championship 211 points ahead of retiring teammate Jamie Whincup after blitzing the competition this year.
The New Zealand racer finished the year with 14 race wins — eight ahead of Anton De Pasquale on six — six poles and 23 podiums.
His brilliant year was all the more remarkable after he recovered from serious injuries suffered in a mountain biking accident when he fractured his collarbone and broke ribs before the round at Sandown.
Van Gisbergen said he wished his family could have been with him to celebrate his title win.
“I wish all my family was here and all my friends as well. I wish I could go home to celebrate but I’m locked out of my own country which sucks,” he said.
“Anyways, it was awesome to race here, it is good to have all the fans back and the atmosphere was awesome, I’ve loved every minute.”
‘I’m not greedy’ but podium miss spoils legend’s farewell
Jamie Whincup has fallen agonisingly short of a fairytale send-off in his final race as a full-time Supercars driver after finishing just shy of a podium finish at the Bathurst 1000 before declaring it was time for the “next generation” to take over.
On a day when Whincup was announced as a Supercars Hall of Famer, the seven-time Supercars champion steered his Commodore to fourth place with co-driver Craig Lowndes in the race that marked the end of one of the greatest careers in Australian motorsport.
Whincup edged closer to the podium late in the race after the race hopes of his Triple Eight teammate and defending Bathurst 1000 champion Shane van Gisbergen were dashed after he suffered a tyre issue with just seven laps to go as when he had been in pursuit of leader Chaz Mostert.
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The greatest championship driver in Supercars history, Whincup’s hopes had taken a hit when he dropped to 12th after he was forced to double stack behind van Gisbergen under the safety car with 46 laps to go.
Whincup, who celebrated the end of his Supercars racing career by burning some rubber around Mount Panorama, admitted he would have loved to get on the podium but could not be disappointed with his finish.
“What I would have given for another spot to stand on the podium,” Whincup said.
“But the story of our day was the (double) stack and dropped right back to 12th and I was happy to come back to fourth.
“I felt plenty of emotion the last few laps, I was just pushing hard. You know what, I actually managed to enjoy the last stint because I was counting the laps down.
“Normally you are trying to get to the end but I would have paid for more laps, I just wanted to keep going.
“I’m not greedy, I think we did a great job, the car was fantastic. The young kids were just pushing a little bit harder at the end there.
“I knew what I had to do but I didn’t have quite what was required just to run those last couple of 10ths.”
Whincup leaves Supercars as a full-time driver as an undisputed great of the sport.
He has more championships than any other driver and has more race wins (124), poles (92) and podiums (237) than any other driver.
But Whincup said it was the right time to bow out as he prepares to take over as Triple Eight team boss from next year.
“I can’t be too disappointed, I have given a lot, I’ve pushed hard,” Whincup said.
“I’m 38 years old, I’ve been going hard for 20 years, it’s not like I have circulated for 20, I have been going hard and the body and mind needs a break.
“I don’t think I’m going to miss it, I feel it’s time. I’ve given all I’ve got and it’s time for the next generation.”
Earlier, the retiring great’s unrivalled career was honoured ahead of his final race when he was inducted into the Supercars Hall of Fame.
Whincup was surprised with the honour on the grid just before the start of the race when he was presented with a plaque by Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
He became the 23rd inductee into the Supercars Hall of Fame and the first since 2018.
He joined the greatest names in the sport including the late Peter Brock, Allan Moffat, Dick Johnson, Mark Skaife and Lowndes in the Hall of Fame.
“I am so thankful for all the accolades this weekend,” Whincup said.
“The Hall of Fame and to have all the team there for the Barry Sheene Medal, to have the Prime Minister present me with the Hall of Fame.
“I could be happier, I want to make sure I continue growing young talent and continue trying to give back a little bit to this sport.
“This sport and this team has given me so much, I owe them everything and they owe me nothing and I will do what I can in the next decade to repay some of that debt.”
’How dumb am I?’: Shock blunder that created V8 legend
Former Supercars stalwart Garry Rogers labelled himself “dumb” but says he has no regrets over sacking Jamie Whincup as a young driver, suggesting the V8 great’s firing set him on his path to eventually becoming a seven-time champion.
As Whincup prepares for his final race as a full-time Supercars driver in the Bathurst 1000, Rogers opened up on the Triple Eight star’s short-lived stay with his team at the start of his career but denied he had been the one that got away.
Whincup admitted he had since relished showing Rogers he was “better than he thought” as he went on to dominate Supercars and claim more championship wins than any driver in history.
A young Whincup got his start in Supercars with Garry Rogers Motorsport, making his full-time debut in the series with the team in 2003.
But Whincup’s time with GRM lasted just one year and he was sacked at the end of a testing rookie season after finishing 27th.
He was given a drive in the endurance races for Larry Perkins in 2004 before returning to the series full-time in 2005 for Tasman Motorsport.
Whincup signed up to race with Triple Eight the following year – and has since won all seven of his championships with the team.
Rogers, who has had a reputation as having a keen eye for identifying motorsport talent and also gave Scott McLaughlin and Garth Tander their starts in Supercars, said he had no regrets over the decision.
“How dumb am I? I sacked him. I wasn’t really smart, was I?,” Rogers said.
“But I have no regrets. I think it certainly helped him no end and it did us no harm.
“I think he has been very fortunate that he has landed where he did and it’s all worked out for the best.
“But he could not adhere to the way that we ran our business and this is not about Jamie or about me, it’s about us as a team and that’s how it is here.
“He wasn’t a really disobedient ‘Jam it up your jumper’ type of person, none of that. But everyone does a bit of everything here and I just thought he just didn’t fit into the way our mentality of that for the wellbeing of our total team was.
“That’s how it was, really. He was certainly not lazy, no way.
“I think the time that he spent here with the way we do things, probably gave him a leg up in terms of future decisions that he made.
“We have got to remember that he was pretty young and naive … but I think what he did learn from myself and the team certainly helped him.”
Whincup won the first of seven Supercars championships in 2008, including four consecutive crowns from 2001 and has also claimed fourth Bathurst 1000 wins.
The 38-year-old, who will take over as Triple Eight team boss next year, said he had enjoyed proving Rogers wrong during his career.
“I did (feel like I had a point to prove),” Whincup said.
“I have got a lot of respect for Garry and I can’t help but be appreciative of the opportunity that he gave me.
“But I have enjoyed showing him that I was better than he thought at the time.”
Rogers, a long-time team owner in Supercars before he left the series at the end of 2019, said he had enjoyed watching Whincup’s success.
“I feel great when he wins a race, the same with Garth and with Scotty and with all of them. I have enjoyed every moment of those times,” Rogers said.
“To be frank, I think the concentration that he possesses now he didn’t possess then.
“A lot of people will say ‘Hang on, you should have been smart enough to realise that and put up with it’ but the fact is I wasn’t.”
Rogers said he and Whincup now had a good relationship.
“He and I get along really well … I see him around the racetracks and whenever he is there he comes and talks to me and I come and talk to him,” Rogers said
“It’s not an awkward relationship between him and I. It all went the way it went.
“I think that he would now realise that perhaps what happened here certainly did help him.”
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