MCLAUGHLIN’S UPWARDS TREND

significant gap over the Tickford Racing Mustangs, driven by four race-winning drivers.

The angst reached fever pitch post-Bathurst, when McLaughlin and Prémat’s win was overshadowed by the team orders given to Coulthard and Tony D’Alberto to slow the pack under a late safety car.

Despite the penalty of a $250,000 fine, the loss of 300 teams’ championship points and the relegation of Coulthard and D’Alberto to last place, some rivals insisted McLaughlin and Prémat should’ve been stripped of the win.

Then, a technical infringement led to a $30,000 fine, the loss of the Bathurst pole position and a grid penalty at Sandown.

“I believe we won it fair and square... it just sucks we have to deal with all this stuff,” he said.

“I’m proud of what we’ve done as a team. There’s always conjecture, and basically I think the majority of the people are upset about our year. And they have been from the start when we started winning.

“We push on as a team. I’m proud of what we’ve done. I’m proud of winning Bathurst and I’m proud of winning the championship.

“Off-track it’s been political. We’re just going to have to push on and fight them off, because I think we’ve fought off a lot this year. And I think we’ve done a good job to stay together as a team.”

The high of the Bathurst win was soon followed by the low of the huge qualifying crash at the Gold Coast 600, which ruled he and Prémat out of Race 27 and destroyed chassis DJRTP 06, the only Mustang to start the season that hadn’t been upgraded from a previousspec Falcon FG X, forcing DJR Team Penske into a newcar build for Sandown.

For a season of such frequent highs, there were some hefty on and off track lows.

The Future

McLaughlin scored his third championship win in a row in 2020, winning 13 races in a COVID-interrupted season. McLaughlin had once again gotten the better of Triple Eight duo van Gisbergen and Whincup.

With championship and Bathurst success, McLaughlin headed to the IndyCar Series with Team Penske in 2021. After claiming Rookie of the Year honours in the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series, McLaughlin scored his first race win in the category at the 2022 season opener.

In many ways McLaughlin’s career path mirrors that of Ambrose. Both became Ford heroes with a run of championship success, defeating the then dominant Holden teams in the process. And after claiming consecutive titles, they both ventured to North America.

Ambrose made a brief return to Supercars in the formative stages of the Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske union. It remains to be seen whether McLaughlin will return having established himself in North America. Even if he doesn’t, McLaughlin’s Supercars results put him amongst the all-time greats of Australian touring cars.

Jamie Whincup retired from full-time driving to take on the role of team principal at Triple Eight Race Engineering at the end of 2021. It marked the end of an era in Supercars, with Whincup the undisputed greatest driver in the current era of the category and, as we consider, arguably the greatest of all time.

When 23-year-old Jamie Whincup joined Triple Eight Race Engineering for the 2006 Supercars season, no one could’ve predicted the success and domination that would follow.

Whincup was hired by Triple Eight as number two and co-driver to Craig Lowndes. While Lowndes had already won three championships and came close to another in 2005, Whincup bounced back from a disappointing rookie season that had seen him fired by Garry Rogers Motorsport at the end of 2003, a solid endurance campaign with Perkins Engineering in 2004 and a career-changing season with Tasman Motorsport in 2005.

In his first year with Triple Eight, Whincup won the season-opening event in Adelaide and teamed with Lowndes to claim victory at Bathurst. Whincup’s 10th in the championship standings wasn’t a true indication of his season, having missed two races as a result of accident damage in Tasmania. But by 2007, he gained the ascendancy within the team and began a championship-contending charge that would see him rewrite the record books.

After sixteen seasons with Triple Eight, Whincup ended his full-time career with the following records:

- The most Australian Touring Car Championship/ Supercars drivers’ titles.

- The equal most consecutive Australian Touring Car Championship/Supercars drivers’ titles.

- The most Australian Touring Car Championship/ Supercars race wins.

- The most Australian Touring Car Championship/ Supercars pole positions.

- The most Australian Touring Car Championship/ Supercars podiums.

- The most Bathurst 1000 wins for a current fulltime driver.

- The most Bathurst 1000 podiums for a current full-time driver.

- The equal most consecutive Bathurst 500/1000 wins.

Whincup took his first championship win in 2008 and backed it up in 2009. After a narrow defeat in 2010, he fought back with four in a row between 2011 and 2014. Then, just as it seemed a new generation had taken over at the top, he won a seventh title in 2017. He also scored five Sandown 500 wins, four Bathurst 1000 wins and two Enduro Cup wins.

Between 2007 and 2021, he finished inside the top five in the championship in each season and only outside the top three on two occasions.

He has won races in each of his 16 seasons with Triple Eight and podiums in the last 17 seasons.

While he did all his winning with Triple Eight, his championship run has spanned two manufacturers (Ford and Holden) and four models (BF Falcon, FG Falcon, VE Commodore and VF Commodore), from the Project Blueprint cars into Car of the Future and Gen2.

Between 2008 and 2014, Whincup won over 30 percent of the races in each of those seasons and over 40 percent in 2008, 2009 and 2012. In his non-championship winning seasons between 2008 and 2017, he won 34.6 percent of the races in 2010, 22.2 percent in 2015 and 24.1 percent in 2016.

What’s remarkable about Whincup’s run is how close he came to eight consecutive championships between 2007 and 2014, with only a 67-point swing across two seasons needed to add to his tally.

In 2007, his first season as a championship contender, he missed the title by two points to the HSV Dealer Team’s Garth Tander. Whincup lost a third place following a disqualification at Eastern Creek midway through the season, with those lost points ultimately costing him the championship. The team had incorrectly used a previous-spec rear brake, which was in the spares box to use at a

post-event ride day.

In 2010, the season in which Triple Eight switched from Ford Falcons to Holden Commodores, Whincup lost the title to Dick Johnson Racing’s James Courtney by 65 points.

Whincup won nine races compared to Courtney’s five, but unreliability in the change of manufacturers proved the decisive factor with engine troubles at Queensland Raceway and Phillip Island.

It meant his championship-winning run would only have ended in 2015, a season in which the new FG X Falcon outpaced the VF Commodore and a puncture at Sandown and a penalty at Bathurst took Whincup out of the title race.

Just when it seemed his run of championships had come to an end, with new teammate Shane van Gisbergen winning the title in 2016, Whincup prevailed in a tight championship race in 2017. Despite only four wins over the course of the season, his lowest since 2006, consistency was again the key to his success with 15 podiums despite only two pole positions – one of 14 consecutive seasons with more than 12 podiums. His seventh title demonstrated his ability to compete against a new generation, particularly van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin; only adding to his greatest of all-time case.

WHINCUP’S TRIPLE EIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TREND-LINE

The main argument against Whincup is the fact he did all his winning with Triple Eight, having joined the team just as it had grown into a genuine contender. But while Lowndes came close to the titles in 2005 and 2006, it was Whincup who scored Triple Eight’s breakthrough championship win in 2008 and established it as the team to beat.

The best drivers inevitably find themselves in the best teams and do the majority of their winning in the best cars. A look through the history of the Australian Touring Car Championship/ Supercars highlights this.

Ian Geoghegan and Bob Jane became the dominant forces with the strength of their imported cars in the Improved Production era; Allan Moffat and Peter Brock’s fortunes were often dependant on the level of manufacturer support their teams received in Group C; Jim Richards and Dick Johnson had car advantages for most of their titles in Group A; and Mark Skaife, Lowndes and Whincup headed the field in dominant runs for their teams.

Rarely have multiple championship-winning drivers won their titles with different teams. Geoghegan, Johnson, Jane, Moffat, Brock, Lowndes, McLaughlin, van Gisbergen, Norm Beechey, Glenn Seton and Marcos Ambrose all won their titles with the same team, with Richards and Skaife the only drivers to have won titles with two teams.

Therefore, the best gauge of a driver is against his teammate. And, within Triple Eight, Whincup has always had formidable competition with

Lowndes and van Gisbergen his only two teammates over the last 16 years; two of the most naturally talented drivers of the modern era and amongst the greats themselves.

Whincup prevailed over Lowndes in each season between 2007 and 2014, only coming second best in their spell as teammates in 2015.

While van Gisbergen had the edge over Whincup in recent seasons, with the latter approaching his retirement decision, Whincup still got the better of van Gisbergen in the 2017 championship.

Whincup’s 2005 season is a telling non-Triple Eight gauge of his talent. After an endurance codriving stint with Perkins Engineering, Whincup joined Tasman Motorsport as teammate to the highly-touted Jason Richards.

Despite Richards having competed in three more seasons than Whincup, including the season before with Tasman Motorsport, Whincup finished a place ahead of Richards in the championship standings.

Whincup also finished ahead of Richards in 15 of the 28 single-driver races, despite Richards holding sway in qualifying, with the teammates joining forces for the endurance events at Sandown and Bathurst and finishing in third and second respectively.

The round at the Shanghai International Circuit, Supercars’ only visit to China, proved indicative of

Whincup’s ability. At a new circuit for all drivers, Whincup outpaced the qualifying specialist Richards, while also setting a faster time than reigning champion Ambrose.

Whincup claimed top 10 finishes across the three races in China, climbing to fourth place in the final race of the event. Whincup’s performances across the season led to Triple Eight signing him for 2006.

While some will argue Whincup’s Bathurst 1000 record counts against him, without a win in the Great Race since 2012 and not on the podium since 2013 as a result of costly infringements and mistakes, he has been a regular contender at the Mount Panorama Circuit and is still amongst the most successful active drivers in the history of the event.

Whincup has notched up record-breaking numbers in one of the most competitive eras of Australian touring cars, depriving a generation of drivers more success. He raised the level for what’s expected of a driver, with his hard work, dedication and application. McLaughlin, who followed his path to win consecutive championships, freely admits that Whincup made him a better driver.

Whether Whincup’s records will ever be beaten remains to be seen. If they stand the test of time, then his case for the greatest of all time will be further solidified.