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Jamie Whincup is a near immortal of Australian motorsport. And he never stops fighting after laying it all on the line in the very last V8 Supercar race of the year, the Sydney NRMA Motoring & Services 500 at Olympic Park.
Right to the last lap in the last race of the year all Whincup had to do was survive. A mistake, accident or car failure would have handed Red Bull team-mate Craig Lowndes the V8 Supercar title on a silver platter. But astoundingly Whincup never stopped racing.
He tangled with Jason Bright, second today, when he didn't need to. He brushed walls, broke mirrors and clipped kerbs, when all he needed to do was play conservative. A racer to the end.
"I was really, really enjoying it to be honest. I had the Championship in the back of my head but all these things are going through my mind during the last 20 laps what should I do," said Whincup.
"It is all about walking away at the end of the day and looking yourself in the mirror, have you been true to yourself, have you done the right thing by everyone and did it plan out the way you wanted it to. That was all part of it for me, to race hard. Sometimes it goes pear-shaped but it didn't today.
Whincup joined greats Mark Skaife, Dick Johnson and the late Ian 'Pete' Geoghegan with five Championship victories, putting him in illustrious company as the best of the best. Five titles in six years, a feat not matched and only broken by James Courtney in 2010.
Lowndes finished fifth on the day and second for the year, with Will Davison trumping teammate Winterbottom for third by just six points.
The win catapulted van Gisbergen into fifth in the Championship - which was his personal goal for the 2013 season.
Top 10 in the final V8 Supercars race for 2013 was van Gisbergen, Bright, Whincup, Reynolds, Lowndes, Winterbottom, Will and Alex Davison, Mostert and Russell Ingall cracking the top 10 in his final race as a full-time V8 Supercars driver.
Jamie Whincup is a near immortal of Australian motorsport. And he never stops fighting after laying it all on the line in the very last V8 Supercar race of the year, the Sydney NRMA Motoring & Services 500 at Olympic Park.
Right to the last lap in the last race of the year all Whincup had to do was survive. A mistake, accident or car failure would have handed Red Bull team-mate Craig Lowndes the V8 Supercar title on a silver platter. But astoundingly Whincup never stopped racing.
He tangled with Jason Bright, second today, when he didn't need to. He brushed walls, broke mirrors and clipped kerbs, when all he needed to do was play conservative. A racer to the end.
"I was really, really enjoying it to be honest. I had the Championship in the back of my head but all these things are going through my mind during the last 20 laps what should I do," said Whincup.
"It is all about walking away at the end of the day and looking yourself in the mirror, have you been true to yourself, have you done the right thing by everyone and did it plan out the way you wanted it to. That was all part of it for me, to race hard. Sometimes it goes pear-shaped but it didn't today.
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| Photo: V8Supercars.com |
Whincup joined greats Mark Skaife, Dick Johnson and the late Ian 'Pete' Geoghegan with five Championship victories, putting him in illustrious company as the best of the best. Five titles in six years, a feat not matched and only broken by James Courtney in 2010.
Lowndes finished fifth on the day and second for the year, with Will Davison trumping teammate Winterbottom for third by just six points.
The win catapulted van Gisbergen into fifth in the Championship - which was his personal goal for the 2013 season.
Top 10 in the final V8 Supercars race for 2013 was van Gisbergen, Bright, Whincup, Reynolds, Lowndes, Winterbottom, Will and Alex Davison, Mostert and Russell Ingall cracking the top 10 in his final race as a full-time V8 Supercars driver.
