TRIPLE EIGHT AIMS FOR FINAL HRT WIN

By Bruce Williams

Date posted: 14 October 2020

Triple Eight aims for final HRT win – Photo: InSyde Media

Can Jamie Whincup or Shane van Gisbergen overcome their traditional Bathurst 1000 misfortunes and win Australia’s greatest Supercars race for the Red Bull Holden Racing Team?

BY BRUCE NEWTON

If either driver does greet the flag first, it will be the Triple Eight-owned squad’s first win at Bathurst since it took over as HRT from Walkinshaw Racing in 2017.

This year will also be the last chance to claim that win, as Holden is being retired as a brand and T8’s deal with Holden will expire after this year’s 1000, which is the final round of the 2020 championship.

Triple Eight will mark the end of the Holden era with a special Bathurst livery for its ZB Holden Commodores, which is set to be revealed in the lead-up to the race.

RBHRT also needs a strong result at Bathurst if it is to avoid a second consecutive year without winning the drivers or teams championships, or the 1000.

Prior to 2019, it had scored at least one of the big three every year since 2005.

DJR Team Penske leads the teams’ championship by 100 points, with 576 points still to be won. The prize is the strategically important garages at pitlane exit.

Whincup, the seven-times Supercars champion has won the 1000 four times, but not since 2012. He is looking to add win number five this year.

“What you need in motorsport is a fast car and consistency and we feel in 2020 the pace has been there when it has needed to be,” said Whincup, who sits second in the title behind champion-elect Scott McLaughlin headed to Bathurst, but could still finish as low as fourth depending on results.

“We made too many errors in the last couple of rounds just from being tired and run down. But with this short break we believe we can get back to full potential come the great race.”

Van Gisbergen has never won the 1000 – although he has won the international GT 12-hour – and was memorably robbed of almost certain victory in 2014, when the starter motor of his

Tekno Autosports Holden Commodore failed at a late-race pit stop when he and Jon Webb held the lead.

He too has missed out since then in unfortunate circumstances. But his confidence is high for the 2020 race.

“I suppose I join everyone in saying I’ve got a car good enough to win it and I’m confident and all that sort of stuff,” van Gisbergen told Auto Action.

“On tracks where our car has not always been the best – like Eastern Creek and Tailem Bend – we were on the pace, whereas last year and the year before we really struggled on long corners and hard tyres.

“So for Bathurst we should be a lot more competitive than maybe we have been.”.

Three of Triple Eight Race Engineering’s four Bathurst wins since 2010 have involved Craig Lowndes.

He won with Mark Skaife in 2010 and Steven Richards in 2015 and 2017 (in a satellite Autobarn- backed entry). Whincup won with Paul Dumbrell – now a T8 co-owner – in 2012.

This is Lowndes’ second year co-driving with Whincup since he retired from full-time driving. Van Gisbergen’s co-driver is Garth Tander, the Holden stalwart who last won the 1000 in 2011 for the old Walkinshaw-run HRT.

Whincup’s litany of Bathurst woes have included running out of fuel on the last lap, illegally passing a safety car, and having a wheel fall off after a pit stop.

“Thanks for the reminder (that) the last eight years hasn’t been as solid as it should be,” Whincup quipped. “I don’t ponder that stuff

“To be honest, one of the best races I have ever been involved in was 2014 when I ran out of gas and Chazzy (Mostert) got through for the win. That was an incredible day.

“What’s most important to me is I am a contributor to the race and on top of that, I’d like to win it.”

Van Gisbergen, who is fourth in the championship but could rise as high as second depending on Bathurst results, has been an agonisingly close second in 2016 and 2019, finishing fifth the two 1000s in between.

“I don’t think it as a race I need to win,” said van Gisbergen.

“It’s just another race, but I have always had good speed there; seconds, poles, a 12-hour win, so it’s a track I do well at and have had a few goes at, so it would be nice to pull it off.

“If I can get everything right and as a team we do everything perfectly, then it might go our way.”

For more of the Supercars motorsport news pick up the current issue of Auto Action. Also make sure you follow us on social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or our weekly email newsletter for all the latest updates between issues.

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TRIPLE EIGHT AIMS FOR FINAL HRT WIN

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