Officially his appeal is over but the Bathurst 1000 fallout is not going away with Jamie Whincup taking aim at Supercars boss James Warburton for “playing dirty”.
The six-time Supercars champion confirmed his Red Bull Racing team (RBR) would not take their Bathurst appeal further after their protest was dismissed on Tuesday night.
However, Whincup has ensured his infamous Bathurst finish is still a talking point ahead of this weekend’s Gold Coast 600 thanks to a no-holds-barred blog.
Whincup has finally given his side of the drama in a personal website post, criticising Warburton for slamming RBR’s Bathurst appeal as “un-Australian”.
READ MORE
* Pivotal weekend ahead for van Gisbergen
* ‘Dirty play’ in Bathurst dispute
* Bathurst doubt lingers as appeal dismissed
The four-time Bathurst winner has also sensationally accused TV networks of doctoring race audio to suggest he defied team orders and caused the infamous Great Race incident.
Whincup on Thursday made no apologies for his blog when he fronted media ahead of the Gold Coast 600.
“I just wanted to get all the facts from my point of view,” he said.
“Everyone has said their opinion.
“Now it’s up to our fan base to make a decision on what is right and wrong.”
Whincup’s appeal against a 15-second time penalty that cost him a fifth Great Race on October 9 was dismissed by Supercars National Court of Appeal on Tuesday night in Melbourne.
He crossed the line first but was relegated to 11th after being penalised for his role in a late incident that ended the winning hopes of Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin and Holden’s Garth Tander.
“I would be lying if I said the appeal had not been a distraction,” Whincup said.
“It’s a speed bump. We will just try and concentrate on this weekend.”
RBR had seven days after their dismissed protest to decide whether to take their case to the FIA International Court of Appeal – a move Whincup has ruled out.
“Our whole Bathurst campaign finished at 5pm last night when I posted that blog,” he said.
It ensured Holden’s Will Davison could officially celebrate winning the Bathurst 1000 – 10 days after the race.
Whincup described the Bathurst aftermath in his blog as a “debacle”.
“Tekno (Davison) not being able to celebrate properly like they should,” Whincup wrote.
“Supercars Australia branding us un-Australian and playing dirty by slamming us in the media.
“The TV crews cutting radio audio and pasting in over the top of footage laps later in an attempt to further fuel the ‘I don’t listen to my team’ criticism – it is a debacle.”
Davison said he never felt he would lose the Peter Brock Trophy during the appeal process.
“I didn’t want it to go any further but I was very confident I was safe. There are no hard feelings,” he told AAP.
Whincup was penalised for making contact while passing McLaughlin on lap 150 at Mount Panorama.
He insisted in his blog that “the move was on”.
However, Whincup wants to work with Supercars to improve the penalty process.
