Triple Eight drivers Whincup and van Gisbergen fought an exciting and controversial battle in the second stint of today’s final heat race at Eastern Creek, which was won by rookie Will Brown.
The two were in second and third, Whincup is leading the championship leader van Gisbergen, and both of them at great speed to chase Brown when the Erebus driver began to struggle with his tires.
Van Gisbergen had the best tire condition of the trio and did his best with 12 laps to go to get past Whincup so he could chase Brown.
But Whincup wasn’t in the mood to let his teammates through, the two slowing each other down as they slammed doors and ran wide in several corners.
The T8 pit wall did its best to mitigate the situation, telling Whincup to let Van Gisbergen through. But Whincup flatly refused, asking on the radio why Van Gisbergen’s fight could not be broken off to help the couple get to Brown.
Van Gisbergen eventually seemed to pull back, but the damage was done when Brown captured his first Supercars win ahead of Whincup and Van Gisbergen.
To make matters worse, Whincup is van Gisbergen’s closest title rival – and will also be his team boss next season when the seven-time champion steps out of the driver’s seat.
After the race, Whincup stated that his upcoming resignation played a role in his decision not to let Van Gisbergen through.
“We were good for the win there,” said Whincup disappointed.
Whincup was reluctant to give up a win he believed was there for him in his final season
Photo by: Edge Photographics
“We pitted late and wanted to catch Will, but SVG wanted a fight. So I thought we’d fight together.
“I only have a few races left so I won’t be giving any away.
“We drove hard until the end. That was a good chance of victory today, but unfortunately it didn’t happen because we fought against each other.”
Van Gisbergen agreed that the fight cost the team a win.
“That’s a tough question,” said the Kiwi. “Of course a good fight, probably entertaining. But I have the feeling that we lost our chance of a race win.
“At one point I enjoyed the fight, but I also thought we had to win the race.
“It is what it is. I had a fun fight, but if it were we should have been ahead.”
Team manager Mark Dutton – who will have Whincup as his direct boss for the next season as well – indicated a tense debriefing of the race.
“From the garage we saw it that way, from the cockpit you saw it differently,” he said.
Van Gisbergen said Whincup should have let him through
Photo by: Edge Photographics
“We’ll go over that and talk [about] what was the right way and what was the wrong way. It was probably pretty obvious, but we’ll discuss it.
“You discuss it, you discuss it. You say what you could have done better and what you couldn’t. We discuss it professionally and move on.”
When asked whether he too had the feeling that a victory was begging for, he said: “It was definitely it, yes.”
Dutton also joked about a deluge of texts during the race from current team principal Roland Dane, who is currently in Queensland.
“I think I got fired during the race,” he said. “But she will be right, we will see if that is confirmed.”
