No regrets or recriminations

We gave it everything right up to the bitter end when it became mathematically impossible to win the championship. I'm proud to say we went down fighting and I absolutely drove the wheels off that car.

In the end, we had a fantastic year, but my teammate, Jamie Whincup, had an exceptional year and thoroughly deserved the title. He drove magnificently all season.

There was literally nothing left in the tank at the end - my tank or the car's. The last few laps were a fuel economy run, but I don't think anyone thought it was boring. I believe Neil Crompton and Mark Skaife did a great job of explaining to viewers what was happening and that made it even more exciting.

We approached Sunday's race in the same way as Saturday - nothing to lose so just throw everything into it. So I was scraping as many walls as I could without damaging the car to get as much speed out of the circuit as I could.

It was only in the last couple of laps that my race engineer Jeromy Moore told me Jamie's position and I knew the championship was his. Our team principal Roland Dane was pretty happy with the team result and we were all delighted with the outcome.

Things had been pretty tense on both sides of the garage and we had two crash bays ready to go in case we needed them, so it was also a huge relief in our pit garage when the weekend and season were finally over.

We will now sit down and analyse the season and work out what we could do to make next year better, but there will be no regrets or recriminations.

Rounds I'd like to do again would be the Gold Coast and new Zealand, but overall I'm happy with my finishing rate which was a lot higher than I'd ever had and we improved our consistency in the first half of year which was another goal achieved.

Now I have to work on my qualifying which has been very patchy this year with my worst effort ever at Sandown.

Apart from the V8s next year I hope to have another go at the Australasian Safari in the new Holden Colorado and do a few endurance events with Audi at the Bathurst 12 hour in February and the 24-hour events at Nurburgring and Spa.

Our awards night on the Monday held a nice surprise and an honour for me with my third Barry Sheene medal which is essentially our Brownlow Medal. 

Now I'd like to hand out a few medals of my own.

• Best race was winning our third endurance victory on the trot at Phillip Island. It was significant because it's quite likely Skaifey's last.
• Best event was Bathurst. Even though we finished second, it was a thrilling and close finish with Garth Tander.
• Best team was TeamVodafone. We have proven not only that we are fast but also reliable. There is a lot of pride from all the team members which can be seen in the immaculate condition that our cars roll out of the transporter at each race meeting.
• Best driver is undoubtedly Jamie. He is the complete package with great qualifying, racing and consistency.
• Best circuit is Abu Dhabi. Some Australian circuits need work for next year, but nothing compares to the desert track.
• Best young gun is James Moffat who did well in several events and has shown some brilliance and maturity. He will be one to watch in 2012.
• Most improved is the Kelly team which has lifted in the past few rounds, showed good speed in the wet and are now getting on top of their dry set-up.

This is my last column for 2011. I'm looking forward to doing absolutely nothing over the Christmas break. It will be so good to not have to pack my bags, sleep in a motel room or get on a plane.

I'll be spending time on the farm with the kids and hoping Santa brings me just a bit more luck next year so I can go one better. Have a safe Christmas and see you in 2012.