EXPERIENCE from days gone by of battling teammates Craig Lowndes and Shane van Gisbergen for championships is now coming in handy for Jamie Whincup on the other side of the fence at Triple Eight.
As managing director and team principal, the buck stops with Whincup, who has not hidden from the need to manage his ambitious young guns Will Brown and Broc Feeney.
In a potential two-horse title race, Brown leads Feeney by 108 points with seven rounds remaining. Third-ranked Chaz Mostert is the only other realistic threat at this stage.
“We want a healthy rivalry between the two (drivers/crews) and they’ve all been very, very professional about it: go out there, race hard, some days the #88 car wins, some days the #87 car wins,” said Whincup.
“My job is to make sure it’s kept professional and it has been fantastic.”
Asked if experience from his time behind the wheel in similar circumstances is aiding that job, Whincup concurred.
“It’s definitely a help,” he said.
“I’ve been on both sides of the coin; I’ve been in the driver’s seat and now I’m on the outside. I absolutely understand where these guys are coming from, which helps me adjudicate a situation if there ever was one to arise.
“It’s a great problem to have. Hopefully this problem, where we have got two drivers fighting against each other, keeps up for the whole year.”
Brown found himself in an intra-team tussle with Brodie Kostecki last year at Erebus Motorsport, and despite expectations that things would boil over at some point, that never eventuated.
The 26-year-old drew parallels between his 2023 and 2024 scenarios.
“You’d always love to just be pulling away (in the points), but I think it has been cool,” he said.
“It’s similar to what Brodie and myself had last year.
“Broc is very fast… it’s cool, it makes you work harder, you can’t make a mistake out there. I was trying to get close enough to try to pressure him but being as good as he is, he’s not going to make a mistake.”
Feeney, who reported “feeling at one with the car again” after a bumpy Perth round, is also relishing the situation.
“I like the challenge of someone really pushing you and obviously when it’s in the same equipment, you know you have got to be on your best,” he said.
“The first person you sort of look at on the board is your teammate to see where they’re at.
“It’s been great fun, I have really enjoyed working with Will, we’re always joking around about everything, we’re always happy for each other when we get out of the car, so it has been good fun this year and looking forward to plenty more.”
Next up is the NTI Townsville 500 on July 5-7.
