While many continue to argue if Nico Rosberg was deserving of his maiden Formula One title or whether teammate Lewis Hamilton’s tactics at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix were ‘dirty’, why don’t we discuss another intra-team rivalry at the height of a championship battle?
It may have been an age since the Supercars were in action across the ditch at Pukekohe, but the buzz surrounding the series finale at Sydney Olympic Park couldn’t be fresher.
The final ever race weekend to be staged on the unforgiving streets of Homebush will be the stage for the 2016 championship decider between Red Bull Racing Australia teammates in Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup.
Van Gisbergen, in his maiden season for the Holden juggernaut, holds a 191-point lead over six-time series champion Whincup, with a maximum of 300 points on offer split across a pair of 250-kilometre races over the weekend.
Both drivers have six pole positions each for the season, while van Gisbergen has claimed seven race wins to Whincup’s six
Coming into this season there was a huge question mark over the rivalry the teammates would have. Would team owner Roland Dane have a situation similar to that of Mercedes in Formula One?
In fact it has been quite the contrary – the duo have produced some of the most intense wheel-to-wheel racing seen in the touring car category recently, with little in the way of error from either driver.
Races at Ipswich and Eastern Creek demonstrated fierce antagonism between van Gisbergen and Whincup. Neither gave the other any quarter, but on no occasion did it result in any heartbreak.
Only once this season have the teammates actually clashed, and that was at the most recent New Zealand round, where in race 26, Whincup turned himself and van Gisbergen around.
Otherwise the pair have demonstrated great respect for each other on track and off. The bitterness that has plagued other rivalries in the Australian touring car series and indeed in international motorsport has clearly avoided these two despite what’s ultimately at stake.
For 27-year old Kiwi van Gisbergen it has been a breakout year in his maiden Red Bull campaign. While there were no doubts about his speed coming into this season, there was concerns over his consistency, which he has since fine-tuned.
Van Gisbergen has also accumulated other vital accolades across the year en route to his championship lead. He emotionally won the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy following his round win in New Zealand and of course claimed the Enduro Cup, having been on the podium at all four races with French co-driver Alex Prémat.
Whincup’s season has been more about redemption after his lacklustre 2015 campaign, which saw him finish a lowly fifth in the standings – his lowest finish since his first year with Triple Eight in 2006.
While the 33-year old former champ has been strong for the balance of the season, a potentially fruitful endurance campaign once again saw controversy, this year in the acrimonious conclusion to the Bathurst 1000.
If Whincup were to concede this championship to his teammate, the points lost at both Sandown and Bathurst can be highlighted as the key to his downfall.
There is the possibility for van Gisbergen to claim his maiden Supercars title during the initial Saturday race. Finishing fifth or better, regardless of where Whincup places, will be enough to clinch the title.
If Whincup ends up second or lower, the crown is van Gisbergen’s no matter where the New Zealander ends up in Saturday’s race.
The permutations would have you believe that the championship is the Kiwi’s to lose at this stage. However, when looking at the battleground for the title decider, one would think differently.
While the track appears to be a straightforward layout, the streets of Homebush are the opposite. The close proximity of the walls, high-profile kerbing and multiple surface changes make this street circuit a concrete jungle.
Mixed weather is always a factor around this time of year in Sydney also. There have been many occasions in the past where weather has played a cruel hand in proceedings, none more so than during the 2010 championship finale, which saw all three contenders off into the wall.
The deluge in 2014 saw the 250-kilometre Sunday race called at lap 44 of 74 due to the torrential rain and severe thunderstorms.
Even though this circuit has been dominated by van Gisbergen and Whincup, who have won the last eight races between them, there’s no knowing what could transpire.
Van Gisbergen stands on the precipice of becoming the first New Zealander to win the Australian touring car championship since the legendary Jim Richards in 1991.
Whincup, however, isn’t a six-time series champ for nothing, and the prospect of claiming an unprecedented seventh title would be more than palatable.
Whoever wins this weekend, it cannot be denied that it has been a fair and very entertaining fight between the teammates – a fight that the entire Supercars category can be proud of.
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