JAMIE Whincup plans to impart further wisdom on Broc Feeney as they enter their first Sandown 500 together this weekend.
Whincup and Feeney paired up for the 2022 Repco Bathurst 1000, where the seven-time Supercars champion notably took the reins during a wet qualifying session.
There’s no indication that will be repeated this year, with Feeney emerging as a championship contender and Whincup yet to race a Gen3 car.
Whincup does however have plenty of runs on the board at Sandown, with nine race wins there (including five Sandown 500 victories) as well as seven pole positions.
The 40-year-old laughs he’ll try to only pass on his good habits to Feeney, who is half his age, not any of the Mount Panorama mishaps since his last Peter Brock Trophy win in 2012.
“When you’re young and new to the sport, the learning curve is crazy steep. You’re learning and progressing so fast, and Broc has done exactly that,” said Whincup, who won the most recent Sandown 500 with Craig Lowndes four years ago.
“He is well and truly on the right curve; if anything he is a bit ahead of it.
“So going into Bathurst this year, he’s not the rookie, he knows the cars better than I do, so it’s a matter of going out there and try to keep it clean, be there at the end.
“It’s a very different mentality, endurance racing compared to sprint racing.
He added with a chuckle: “I’ll try to give him some of my experience from endurance events – certainly not my bad experiences at Bathurst, but hopefully my good experiences at Bathurst and at Sandown, and we can get a result.
“Hopefully I can do a good job, not spin up Mountain Straight on Lap 1 like I did last year.”
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With Feeney having lost ground in the title race after a late Tailem Bend clash with David Reynolds, described by Whincup as “devastating”, the pressure is on to make hay in the Sandown and Bathurst enduros.
“I have got to support Broc. I’m a co-driver, I’m there to support him, to try to get as many points as he can in the season of endurance,” Whincup told V8 Sleuth.
“But personally, I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel at Sandown. It’s a great place to drive.
“There’ll be one day where I’m not a racing driver so I’m just making the most of every race that comes.”
Triple Eight’s other enduros combinations are Shane van Gisbergen/Richie Stanaway in the #97, and Lowndes/Zane Goddard in the #888.
The Sandown 500 takes place this weekend, ahead of the Bathurst 1000 across October 5-8.
