Jamie Whincup: Seven-Time Supercars Champion, Bathurst Winner and Triple Eight Leader

Jamie Whincup is an Australian driver who has spent most of his career in the Supercars Championship. He won a record seven series titles and four Bathurst 1000 races, and he is currently principal at Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Who is Jamie Whincup and how did his career begin?

Jamie David Whincup was born in Melbourne on 6 February 1983 and attended Eltham College in Research, Victoria. His route into professional motorsport ran through the Australian Formula Ford Championship, where a family-run team gave him an early platform. The Formula Ford success set up his first step into the category.

He finished third in his debut year and then moved to Sonic Motorsport for 2002, when he won the championship convincingly. That title earned him his first V8 Supercar drive, with Garry Rogers Motorsport.

Seven titles, a Bathurst 12 Hour win and a leading role at Triple Eight, built from one Formula Ford title and a V8 Supercar debut.

What were Jamie Whincup's early Supercars seasons?

His Supercars debut came in 2002, sharing endurance duties at Garry Rogers Motorsport. He started at the Queensland 500 in a Holden VX Commodore with Max Dumesny, and at the next round, Bathurst, he drove with Mark Noske. That debut year showed how quickly he could adapt to the category.

Whincup and Noske completed 72 laps at Bathurst before a collision ended their race.

In 2003 he completed his first full-time Supercars season with Garry Rogers Motorsport.In 2003 a run of setbacks, Bathurst among them, led to his release at year's end.

How did Jamie Whincup keep racing in 2004 and 2005?

Without a full-time seat in 2004, Whincup raced enduros alongside Alex Davison in a Castrol VX Commodore prepared by Perkins Engineering. A DNF at the Sandown 500 was disappointing, but the pair finished ninth at Bathurst after qualifying 29th. The Bathurst ninth was a strong result for a part-time entry.

In 2005 he landed a full-time drive with Melbourne-based Tasman Motorsport. He finished fourth at the one-off Shanghai round in China and a third at the Sandown 500. The most notable result was a strong second at Bathurst with Jason Richards, after the pair had been in front late on.

How did Jamie Whincup join Triple Eight and begin winning?

Whincup moved from Holden to Ford in 2006, joining Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Craig Lowndes. He claimed the Clipsal 500 and the Supercheap Auto 1000, the season's two marquee events, and finished tenth in the championship. It was a notable first season for a driver moving from Holden to Ford.

The Supercheap Auto 1000 victory came as co-driver to Lowndes. Results were strong at the top of the order, but incidents and unreliability in the middle of the season took their toll on the final standings.

In 2007 the team was rebranded TeamVodafone, and Whincup won a second Bathurst 1000 alongside Lowndes, with new engineer Mark Dutton. He took a mentoring role in TeamVodafone's Junior Development Program and became a co-ambassador for Formula Ford Australia with Will Davison.

His first round win that year came at a waterlogged Winton, the first round win of the season for a Ford driver. He also reached his 50th V8 Supercar Championship start and took his first pole position at Queensland Raceway.

How close did Jamie Whincup come to the 2007 title?

Whincup finished second in the 2007 drivers' title, just two points behind Garth Tander, who drove for HSV Dealer Team. He had led the standings after a successful defence of the Bathurst 1000 with Lowndes, which came weeks after the pair won the Sandown 500.

Momentum swung at Surfers Paradise, where a spin in the final race of the Indy 300 handed the lead back to Tander. A difficult Bahrain round followed, with poor qualifying pace and three races marred by minor accidents that left Whincup with no points.

Tander and Lowndes both had good weekends, putting Tander ahead of Lowndes before the Symmons Plains round in Tasmania. There Tander won race one, slipped to tenth in race two and was out of race three after contact with Steven Richards left his steering broken.

Whincup won both remaining races and headed to the Grand Finale at Phillip Island with a seven-point lead. At Phillip Island the margin slipped away: Tander won the first two races, leaving Whincup seven points adrift before the last race. Whincup finished second, but he fell two points short of the title.

The Gala dinner that followed honoured him with the Barry Sheene Medal, the series' Best and Fairest award.

How did Jamie Whincup win back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009?

Adelaide's 2008 Clipsal 500 went to Whincup, and six more rounds followed, including the Bathurst 1000 for a third consecutive year. He clinched his first championship by winning the opening race of the final round at Oran Park Raceway. That final-round win made the title his first in the series.

He won the Barry Sheene Medal again, a repeat of the previous season's award. At Symmons Plains he spun the car into a ditch during a stunt attempt in a post-race interview.

In 2009 he defended the title in a new Ford FG Falcon. Wins came at Adelaide, Hamilton, Tasmania, Darwin, Townsville, Queensland, Phillip Island and Barbagallo. Despite setbacks in the endurance races and on the Gold Coast, he assembled the season at Sydney Olympic Park. He became the first repeat champion since Marcos Ambrose in 2003-2004.

How did Jamie Whincup's Holden years in 2010 and 2011 go?

In 2010 Triple Eight moved to Holden VE Commodores after Ford cut its sponsorship. Whincup won the first four races and Hamilton, but he finished second in the championship after a multi-car crash at Sydney's Telstra 500 badly damaged his car in the 25th race.

Had he won, he would have matched the consecutive title run of Mark Skaife from 2000 to 2002. He would also have become only the second driver to win titles in both Ford and Holden cars, after Norm Beechey.

In the final race James Courtney held on, and Whincup was out of reach of the points he needed. Courtney had also been caught up in the earlier multi-car crash but had got back on track to finish.

In 2011 Whincup took back the title from James Courtney and became the first International V8 Supercars Champion. He won in Abu Dhabi, Adelaide, Perth, Winton, Townsville, the Gold Coast, Tasmania and Sandown, and in Sydney's final race he finished 35 points clear of Lowndes.

Triple Eight's season earned it the Teams Championship, its second with Holden.

What did Jamie Whincup achieve in 2012 and 2013?

In 2012 Whincup became a four-time series champion, alongside Bob Jane, Allan Moffat and Jim Richards. He won twelve races, among them the marquee Bathurst race and the Gold Coast 600, and finished 339 points ahead of teammate Lowndes. The 2012 title was his fourth in the series.

2013 brought a new era, with two extra manufacturers, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz, joining the category. Triple Eight stayed with Holden, but Red Bull replaced Vodafone as major sponsor and the team became Red Bull Racing Australia.

Whincup took 11 of the 34 rounds, from New Zealand to Homebush, despite a season that produced 13 different race winners. He also won three of the four races he took at the Circuit of the Americas, the series' first US outing.

He again finished ahead of Lowndes and claimed a fifth title, a total level with Ian Geoghegan, Dick Johnson and Mark Skaife.

How did Jamie Whincup fare at Bathurst in 2014 and 2015?

Whincup won a record sixth title in 2014. He narrowly missed the Bathurst 1000 for a second year running, losing to Ford Performance Racing teammate Chaz Mostert, who was ahead when Whincup ran low on fuel. He did win the Enduro Cup with Paul Dumbrell.

Dumbrell was his partner that year, and the pair's results across the endurance events made them the most successful combination of the season.

At Bathurst in 2015 Whincup led midway through, but a throttle sensor problem and a long stop dropped him behind Lowndes. When the key Safety Car period arrived on lap 138, he chose to stay out rather than queue behind Lowndes in the pit lane, despite a call from the Red Bull team to pit.

During that lap he passed the Safety Car, which earned him a drive-through penalty and ended any chance of a good result. He accepted full responsibility afterwards, and the penalty cost him a chance at a fifth Bathurst 1000 title.

He finished fifth in the championship, 599 points behind long-time rival Mark Winterbottom, after a tough campaign.

What were the highlights of Jamie Whincup's 2016 season?

Reaching 100 race wins in 2016 made Whincup the category's second driver to do so, behind Triple Eight teammate Craig Lowndes. Early first pit stops by all three of the team's cars paid off, and Triple Eight reached its seventh consecutive victory.

At Bathurst that year he crossed the line first but was handed a time penalty after a collision involving Scott McLaughlin and Garth Tander. Triple Eight appealed, and the appeal was rejected nine days later.

How did Jamie Whincup win his seventh title in 2017?

In 2017 Whincup won his record seventh championship, after a season short on poles and wins by his standards. Consistency carried him through, and McLaughlin's three penalties dropped him behind the position Whincup needed in the final race at Newcastle.

Triple Eight had become the official Holden factory squad that year, running under the Red Bull Holden Racing Team banner. The title also brought the last race win for the Australian-built Commodore.

What was Jamie Whincup's 2018 season like?

In 2018 he was one of 14 drivers racing the Holden ZB Commodore. At Adelaide he slid wide on his final qualifying lap and hit the outside concrete wall, and a transmission failure later left him 26th in race two.

At the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit he finished second in race three and won race four. He also took the inaugural Larry Perkins Trophy as the weekend's highest points-scorer.

He collected a tenth win on the Townsville street circuit, a race in its tenth edition, leading from a lap-two pass on McLaughlin to the end of 70 laps. At Tailem Bend he won race 23 at The Bend Motorsport Park.

On 16 September he and Paul Dumbrell led from start to finish at the Sandown 500 and swept the podium for Triple Eight. On 7 October Dumbrell lost a front wheel at Bathurst, which rolled down the pit straight as the pack swung left at Hell Corner, and Whincup finished tenth.

How did the Holden era end for Jamie Whincup in 2019 and 2020?

His first win of 2019 came in the opening race at Queensland Raceway after a tough weekend with Triple Eight. At Pukekohe he was wrongly picked up by the Safety Car, passed it without permission and dropped to 20th while serving his penalty.

He won five races that season and finished third in the championship standings.

In 2020 Holden's exit from the category was confirmed, with 2021 set as the brand's final year. On 22 February Whincup won the opening race at Adelaide, his 119th career win and 86th in a Holden, moving him one ahead of Lowndes on the all-time list.

At the final Bathurst round he slid off at The Cutting and struck the barrier on lap 33 while fighting with Brodie Kostecki and Chaz Mostert. Lowndes, who had just got out of the other car, took the crash in stride. The season ended with four wins and fourth in the championship, in a year disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is Jamie Whincup's record in GT racing?

On 5 February 2017 Whincup won his first GT race, with Craig Lowndes and Toni Vilander, in a Ferrari 488 GT3 entered by Maranello Motorsport. It was the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, and the victory put him in a group of drivers who have won both the Bathurst 1000 and the Bathurst 12 Hour.

Among that group were Gregg Hansford, Allan Grice and John Bowe, alongside Lowndes.

What business interests does Jamie Whincup hold?

In 2016 Whincup opened the Loca Cafe and car wash venture at Hope Island in Queensland. He lives in Hope Island near the cafe. His stake in Triple Eight links those ventures to his racing career. The cafe venture came two years before his stake in the team grew.

In 2018 he took a 15% stake in Triple Eight Race Engineering, later raised to 30%.

What awards has Jamie Whincup won beyond the championships?

He received the Barry Sheene Medal for best and fairest in 2007 and again in 2008. On two occasions he took the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy at Pukekohe Park Raceway, a double no other driver had achieved. The Larry Perkins Trophy followed in 2018 as the newest honour.

In 2018 the inaugural Larry Perkins Trophy went to him as the weekend's top points-scorer. In 2009 he appeared on the first season of the reality programme Australia's Greatest Athlete.

How did Jamie Whincup's career record stand overall?

Whincup won a record seven Supercars titles and four Bathurst 1000 races, along with a Bathurst 12 Hour victory. He is the all-time record holder for race wins in the Supercars Championship. The table below sets out the key seasons behind those figures.