HE is man that ranks amongst the most successful drivers in history of Bathurst's Great Race, but Jamie Whincup has certainly had his share of hard luck stories at Mount Panorama as well.
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That is why the Red Bull Holden Racing star is hoping he has found a good luck charm for this year's Bathurst 1000 in the form of co-driver Craig Lowndes.
Three of Whincup's four Bathurst triumphs - an effort only six men in the history of the event have bettered - have come sharing a seat with Lowndes.
Before Supercars rules prohibited full-time drivers from pairing up in the endurance rounds, Whincup and Lowndes won three consecutive 1000s between 2006-08.
But with Lowndes having retired from a full-time drive at the end of 2018, he became eligible to unite with Whincup once more.
"He knows exactly what he's doing and hopefully he brings me some luck," Whincup said.
A bit of luck at Mount Panorama is important for Whincup as he looks to improve on his current fifth-placing in the drivers' championship.
It would also be a change from some of his recent hard luck stories in the Great Race - running out of petrol when leading on the final lap, being black flagged for passing the safety car and a 15-second penalty applied for an incident with 11 laps remaining.
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"Obviously this event, the Bathurst event, is so critical to the championship," he said. "It's one of the top five tracks in the world in my opinion and very grateful to have that here in this country. The event itself, 1000 kays to finish is an achievement but to finish on top is a really, really tough ask.
"Over the years it's just created this unbelievable history where anything that can go wrong generally does go wrong. I feel like I've had a little bit of everything up there over the years.
"Chazzie [Chaz Mostert] cut me off one year at Forrest's Elbow, in his defence I did run out of petrol, the safety car let me through then decided it didn't let me through, I was penalised for two guys crashing into each other behind me, it was my fault," he added with a laugh.
"It's always a story to tell of what goes on at Bathurst."
