Lowndes: Falcon faster than Commodore
Triple Eight Race Engineering's Craig Lowndes believes the Ford Falcon FG X is currently a faster V8 Supercar than the Holden Commodore VF, but is confident the balance can be turned through hard work rather than parity adjustments.
Lowndes lies second in the driver's Championship heading into this weekend's Castrol EDGE Townsville 400, 95 points behind leader Mark 'Frosty' Winterbottom in the Prodrive Racing Australia Pepsi Max Falcon.
With three wins and three poles, Lowndes is the best performed Holden driver so far in 2016 in his Red Bull Commodore. In total, the Lion has garnered seven wins and seven ARMOR ALL Pole Positions from among the 12 Commodores on the grid.
Meanwhile, Winterbottom has won four races and scored one pole, while teammate Chaz Mostert has won twice and leads the field with five poles. David Reynolds, in the Bottle-O Falcon also campaigned by PRA, has one win and one pole. The DJR Team Penske and Super Black Racing Falcons are the other two Fords on the grid.
The Nissan Altima has claimed one pole via Rick Kelly in Darwin, while Erebus/Mercedes-Benz AMG has one win via Will Davison in Perth. Volvo is the only brand to claim neither a pole or win this year.
The FG X replaced the FG II for the 2015 season and came with a significant aerodynamic upgrade. The Commodore and Nissan also had aero upgrades for 2015.
Asked if he believed the FG X had an aerodynamic advantage, Lowndes replied:
"I do yes, their balance change from last year to this year has been greater than ours," Lowndes said. "I think we have overall improved but from what I understand and when we (Triple Eight) were Ford, the back of the Falcon was always the problem, maximising that, and now they have something that they can work with.
"They have a car that the drivers can now drive and utilise for the speed that it has.
"We know that the Holdens have improved with what we have got, but we do know the Falcons probably had the best increase in balance and performance."
But asked if that meant a parity adjustment was worth investigating, Lowndes said that couldn't be justified.
He pointed out that teammate Jamie Whincup's run of Championship success didn't necessarily mean all Holdens were fast, just as not all five Falcons on the grid were running at the front of the field.
"People looked at the Holdens and said they needed a parity adjustment because Jamie had won so many races and Championships," Lowndes said. "But that didn't mean all Holdens were fast and it's the same here.
"I think it is a bit early to be jumping on parity adjustments. You have to look at it as PRA are simple doing a better job than anyone else."
Lowndes said RBRA would go to Townsville without any technical updates to its cars compared to Darwin, where he scored his 100th V8 Supercars/touring car win, but also fell out of contention in the 200km Sunday race along with Whincup when their Dunlop soft tyres failed to last.
That issue reared up despite the Triple Eight cars usually performing better in 2015 on soft than hard tyres.
"We had great life on the soft tyre at Winton and Symmons Plains and we believed we would be able to get the same out of it at Darwin knowing it is a smooth high grip track," explained Lowndes.
"But both cars suffered the same problem and that's something the team has been investigating to find out what caused it ... It's something we have to understand and rectify and makes sure it doesn't happen again."
Lowndes asserted Triple Eight's 2015 results, with Whincup only eighth in the drivers' championship, reflected the improvement of PRA and others such as Brad Jones Racing's Fabian Coulthard more than a downturn in its own form.
"I don't think we have changed in the team in terms of what we do and the process and the way we go about it. I think other teams are better equipped. We know that PRA have always been fast and have had speed but never had consistency - they have always been up and down - as has Fabian Coulthard been up and down.
"They have always had good speed but never been consistent and I think that has always been one of our strengths. We have been fast at every round.
"So now you have Frosty, Chaz, Fabian and even the Nissans are firing along. Now we have guys who are equally as quick every round. So it just shows the depth of the competition."
As reported earlier this week, Lowndes goes to Townsville looking to break through for his first win on the hybrid circuit.
