Queensland-based Jamie Whincup shed a tear in relief crossing the Oran Park finish line to win his 16th race win of the season, securing his maiden V8 Supercar crown as his parents stood in pit lane cheering him on.
The 25-year-old driver who put his name alongside the greats of Australian motor sport hoisted the trophy above his head after one of the most dominant years in Australian motorsport.
On a day of high emotion Holden’s Garth Tander may have won the round, but it mattered little for Whincup, who secured the championship last Saturday December 6 with two races to go.
For Whincup the climb to the title has had its set backs, sacked by Garry Rogers before the end of his first season in V8 Supercars, two poor years with Tasman Motorsport before joining Craig Lowndes at Triple Eight.
“It feels amazing, the feeling is twice as good as I’d imagined,” he said after the race. “I’ve been given the best ride in the category and I’m thankful for that, and hopefully I’ve repaid them all a little. We’ve got a lot of celebrating to do, after Bathurst it was just a few lemon squashes and then Indy was quiet too, which was hard at my home race. We’ll do some celebrating tomorrow night; this has been an amazing year.”
Mark Skaife ended his V8 Supercar career with a brave drive to finish just outside the top 10 in his final race after failing to finish the opening two races, the five-time V8 champion powered from 26th on the grid to finish 12th in the third of the weekend’s three races before retiring from full-time V8 Supercar driving.
While it wasn’t quite the fairytale finish Skaife was hoping for, his wife Toni and three children choked back tears as 31,000 fans gave one of the greats of Australia motorsport a fitting send off in an emotional parade lap.
