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HomeNewsSaturday Sleuthing: Whincup title-winner restored

Saturday Sleuthing: Whincup title-winner restored

THE most successful Supercar of the ‘Car of the Future’ era has been restored.

The Red Bull Racing Australia Commodore VF that took Jamie Whincup to two of his seven Supercars Championship crowns has been restored by Kostecki Brothers Racing in Queensland.

Known as ‘Elizabeth’, the car – chassis 888A-037 – has been out of racing duty since partway through last year and, as photos taken by Jake Kostecki and posted to Instagram this week show, has been restored to its #1 Red Bull Racing Australia livery from the 2014 V8 Supercar Championship season.

Debuted by Whincup and Paul Dumbrell with victory in the 2013 Sandown 500, the car then finished runner-up at Bathurst a few weeks later and took Whincup to his fifth championship in six seasons.

He retained the chassis for 2014 and used it during the entire championship, claiming 14 race wins that year – including another Sandown 500 – on his way to scoring his sixth championship crown.

The car famously led the Bathurst 1000 going into the last lap before Whincup ran low on fuel and Chaz Mostert’s FPR Falcon swept past to score victory.

Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell ran a one-off livery at Bathurst in 2014 and very nearly claimed victory. Photo: an1images.com / Dirk Klynsmith.

Whincup retained the car for the first part of 2015 before he debuted another new chassis and 037 was retained as a spare. 

It was pressed back into service for Craig Lowndes to drive at Phillip Island (where it scored two more race wins) and Sydney Olympic Park after his existing car was damaged when a tyre blew and it had crashed at Pukekohe.

This chassis was ultimately highly successful, claiming 22 Supercars Championship race wins in its career between 2013 and 2015.

That makes it the most winning Car of the Future chassis of the era.

The car was sold to the Kosteckis and raced in the 2016 and 2017 Dunlop Super2 Series by Jake Kostecki. It was then used by his cousin Brodie in 2018, the breakout season where he claimed his first Super2 round win at Sandown and repeated it in the season final in Newcastle.

He started 2019 in this chassis until it reverted to Jake’s hands for Townsville and Queensland Raceway before the team pulled out of Super2 to concentrate on its wildcard program for the PIRTEK Enduro Cup.

Chassis 888A-037 made its last racing start last year at Queensland Raceway in Jake Kostecki’s hands. Photo: an1images.com / Dirk Klynsmith.
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