Lowndes: Everyone can be Beaten

Red Bull Racing Australia’s Jamie Whincuphas been leading the Championship points since the second event and it is easyto assume the dominant driver will once again drive into the distancetoward his trophy. After all, he has won four of the last five Championships inV8 Supercars.

But his teammate Craig Lowndes insiststhere is still a long way to go. And that Whincup can be beaten.

Lowndes won the final race in Darwin,bridging the gap between he and his teammate to just 159 Championship points,and in the post-race press conference suggested he could catch Whincup.

“The Championship is never over until it’sover, it’s always up and down,” Lowndes said.

“You always get a little bit down onyourself when you see the gap growing but today’s (Race 19) proven we canbounce back.”

Click here to see the full press conferencewith top three Lowndes, Mark Winterbottom and David Reynolds.

At this weekend’s event, the SucrogenTownsville 400, 150 points will be awarded for the win of each of the tworaces. So a problem for Whincup could see him fall back into Lowndes’ clutches.

Lowndes spoke to v8supercars.com.au aboutbeing the one to knock Whincup off his throne.

“Everyone can be caught and beaten,” three-timeChampion Lowndes said.

“It’s a matter of keeping focus on our owngoals and still striving to win races.

“There’s still a long way to go– whether it’s me or Will (Davison), who’s in third, as long as we keepJamie in striking distance.

“With both the Sandown 500 and Bathurst1000 to come, there’s the ability to lose 300 points quite easily, so for methere’s still a long way to go.

“And it’s still up for grabs for anyone totake the Championship.”

While only six events on the V8 Supercars2013 calendar have played out, 19 of 36 races are complete and opportunities to earn points became fewer and fartherbetween.

After the Winton 360 – where three racesare each worth 100 points – there’s only a maximum of 600 points availablein two races, Sandown and Bathurst, across nine weeks.

Compare that to the chance to earn 900points across 10 races in five weeks at the start of the season – betweenTasmania and Perth – and it demonstrates just how costly an issue in an endurocan be.

Though the Red Bull Racing Australiateammates are now first and second in the Championship, Lowndes said the paircontinued to work closely this year to get a better handle on the Car of theFuture Commodores. 

“We believe and feel we understand the carbetter at the moment – but still not fully,” he explained. “It will stilltake some time to get a handle on them and our heads around rolling the car outon race weekends and being fast from the start, like we had been able to do.”

Whiles Lowndes came to Triple Eight as a‘name’ driver, Whincup barely had a V8 Supercar result to his name when he wassigned to the team in 2006. Lowndes has gone from being the leader to the led.

“It’s been fantastic to watch Jamie’s developmentand growth, and maturity,” the 39-year old said.

“When he joined the team he had the speed– there’s no question about that – but like every young person, thematurity and understanding is complete when it’s about a complete weekend, notjust poles and lap records.

“I’ve been very happy to be part of thatprocess for him.

“He’s his own person and does his ownpreparation, fitness stuff and has his own approach to race weekends, which arehis way. But I helped him, like Peter Brock helped me.”

While the team has achieved one-two resultsat the Reid Park Circuit, Lowndes is yet to breakthrough for a win inTownsville.

“It’s a tough track and a physical circuit.In the back section there’s a quick chicane where you bounce through the kerbs… it’s hard on us and equally hard on the cars, because the cars and suspensioncan be damaged quite easily.

“And we probably haven’t put the Car of theFuture through the paces on that side of it – it will be interesting tosee what cars fail.”

Lowndes likes the chance to run on both thehard and soft tyres this weekend, though he believes Darwin showed he was moreconfident on the soft tyre.

Tickets are still available for theSucrogen Townsville 400 and for those unable to attend the event, consider V8SuperView, the live, uninterrupted stream showing all race and qualifyingsessions, as well as the last two practice sessions.