AS IT HAPPENED - Bathurst 1000
After starting the race 23rd, Whincup bravely fought his way through the field to take the lead in the dying stages of Sunday's drama-filled race at Mount Panorama.
The Holden star was urged by engineer David Cauchi and team manager Mark Dutton to ease his pace. But the four-time Bathurst winner kept pushing - taking the lead and extending the advantage to nearly three seconds.
He eventually ran out of fuel on the 161st and final lap and was forced to coast home, allowing Ford young gun Chaz Mostert to pass him for the win.
Whincup finished fifth.
Jamie Whincup comes under pressure from the field in the closing laps. Photo: Getty
"He has won a lot of races for us and he has now lost a race for us that is one of the biggest ones," Dane told the V8 Supercars website.
"One hundred per cent that was against our advice and that's just not clever.
"And that is disappointing that we didn't manage the fuel as well as we could have done."
Whincup was unapologetic for running with his own strategy and said going for broke "was just his style".
"There were two options in my head: conserve the amount of fuel they wanted me to conserve and run second, or go all out and try and win the race," he told Channel Seven.
"We went all out and ended up finishing fifth."
Clinging to fifth has at least kept Whincup on top of the overall standings and in line for a record sixth V8 Supercars championship.
Team boss tells Whincup: ‘you lost us the race’
