JAMIE Whincup’s decision to ignore team orders in the closing stages of the Sydney SuperSprint on Sunday marked another polarising moment in the seven-time champion’s career.
The soon-to-retire Whincup was chasing leader Will Brown when he was instructed to yield to Red Bull Ampol Racing teammate Shane van Gisbergen, who was on fresher tyres behind.
Whincup refused to heed commands delivered via team radio by his engineer Wes McDougall and then team manager Mark Dutton, resulting in a thrilling dice with van Gisbergen.
Erebus Motorsport rookie Brown was the big beneficiary as he went on to take victory ahead of the two warring Red Bull Commodores.
Whincup was adamant post-race that he did not regret the decision and didn’t feel a need to apologise, although gave a somewhat conflicted reflection on his actions.
“When you calm down, I guess it’s the wrong thing, I’ve probably done the wrong thing there, but it certainly wasn’t the wrong thing 20 laps into a race, it was the right thing,” he said.
It wasn’t Whincup’s first time ignoring team orders, having most famously run out of fuel while leading on the last lap of the 2014 Bathurst 1000 after failing to conserve as instructed.
But in the fourth-last race of his full-time driving career before he transitions to Triple Eight team boss, was Whincup right to overrule the team and fight for the Sydney win?
The topic headlines our latest Castrol Motorsport News Podcast, where host Andrew van Leeuwen and V8 Sleuth’s Stefan Bartholomaeus have rather contrasting views!
Listen to the podcast in the player below or download it now via your favourite podcast app.
