Whincup eyeing off second enduro-season double

Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup will head to Bathurst in October with an historic second Sandown 500/Bathurst 1000 double firmly in his sights, alongside Broc Feeney.

As sell as eyeing off the enduro-double, Whincup also heads to Mt Panorama in search of a fifth Bathurst 1000 victory, 11 years after his last Great Race triumph in 2012 with Paul Dumbrell in the T8 VE Commodore.

That fifth Bathurst 1000 triumph would give him his second Sandown/Bathurst enduro double, which would be the third such occasion since the 5L V8 era began in 1993, and the ninth time in history, whilst Feeney would also become just the ninth driver to have also achieved the feat should they win.

Feeney held off Kostecki after a late re-start to give himself and Whincup a shot at the Sandown/Bathurst double. Image: EDGE Photography

Sandown/Bathurst endurance race doubles

Alan Moffat was the first to crack the double in 1970 when he took out the Sandown 3 Hour 250 and Hardie-Ferodo 500 in an XW Falcon racing for the Ford Motor Company.

Moffat achieved the first Sandown/Bathurst sweep in 1970 in his #64E XW Falcon.

Brock wins the Sandown-Bathurst double five times.

It would come as no surprise that the next five occasions happened during the indomitable “King of the Mountain” era, when Brock achieved the feat in 1975/1978/1979/1980/1984.

Brock’s first double enduro scoop saw him take the then Sandown 250 solo, before winning the Hardie-Ferodo 1000 with Brian Sampson in the #5 Holden LH SLR5000 L34 Torana in the over 3L class.

After doing it three more times in succession, 1984 marked the first occasion that the double was achieved when the Sandown 500 (known then as the Castrol 500) became a 500 km race. It was also the first time that the double had been achieved by two co-drivers, with both Brock and Moffat’s Sandown victories prior having been solo efforts.

Prior to that, Brock’s Bathurst winning partner in his enduro double years after Sampson was Jim Richards between 1978-1980.

Brock then partnered with Larry Perkins in 1984 for the Castrol 500 and the James Hardie 1000, doing the double in the “Big Banger” #05 VK Commodore for the Holden Dealer Team, with that year’s Sandown 500 being the first such occasion when a co-driver was a required factor, and the first time since 1969 when it was it was called the Three Hour Datsun Trophy Race.

Brock’s 1984 double alongside Perkins gave him his fifth Sandown/Bathurst sweep

It was also the last time that Brock won the Sandown enduro, on lap ahead of Moffat and Gregg Hansford, whilst they took the 1984 1000 in bitterly cold conditions by two laps over stable mates John Harvey and David Parsons.

Dick Johnson and John Bowe win the double for Ford

The next double was achieved 10 years later in 1994 when Dick Johnson and John Bowe took out the Sandown 500 and the Tooheys 1000 in the DJR #17 EB Falcon, marking the first occasion since the advent of the V8 era that the double was taken. For both drivers, it was also their first time on the top step of the Sandown Enduro, whilst it was the pair’s second time with the Bathurst 1000 wreath.

Craig Lowndes does his first double

It wasn’t long before the eighth double was achieved when Lowndes took the first of his two enduro sweeps in 1996 alongside Greg Murphy, taking out the Tickford 500 and the AMP Bathurst 1000 for the Holden Racing Team in the #1 VR Commodore. 

Lowndes and Murphy took the double in the dominant #1 VR Commodore, with Lowndes then doing it again in 2007 alongside Whincup

It was also a first Bathurst or Sandown win for either of the two iconic drivers, knocking off Johnson and Bowe to take the Great Race in a year where “The Kid” truly became a household name by also winning the Australian Touring Car Championship for the first time.

Craig and Jamie do the Sandown-Bathurst double

11 years later, Lowndes took his second enduro double, and this time it was Whincup sharing the driver’s seat of the Triple Eight BF Falcon, taking the 1000 in a damp thriller with little separating the top four to give the pairing two-straight wins in the Great Race before going on to a hat-trick in 2008 (there was also no Sandown 500 in 2008).

Lowndes and Whincup take home the 2007 Sandown 500 before doing the double at Bathurst. Image: LAT

That was the last time the double was achieved, and now Whincup will be aiming to tie Lowndes with two of his own alongside Feeney when the Supercars hit the Mountain on October 5-8.  

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