Lowndes relishing Gen3 challenge

Craig Lowndes is enjoying the challenge of adapting to Gen3 machinery, saying it reminds him of cars he raced to glory in the 1990s.

Lowndes and Zane Goddard completed their second test day aboard their #888 Supercheap Auto Camaro at Queensland Raceway on Wednesday.

The two will share the wildcard Camaro at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 and Repco Bathurst 1000.

For Lowndes, the Gen3 Camaro is a throwback to low downforce Commodores he raced towards the turn of the century.

Lowndes won three titles in Commodores in the late 1990s as the Holden Racing Team became the dominant force in the sport.

“It’s been great to get more laps in, and keep building on the miles in these cars,” Lowndes said.

"I am still enjoying the car, I think these cars suit my style and it reminds me of the VT days.

"Today we worked through a program of suspension changes, just to get more data information.

"It’s been a really positive day off the back of what we have learnt. We started on a baseline of where the Red Bull Ampol Racing cars have been and where they are at the moment.

"We’ve then been able to progress it further throughout the day so hopefully, that is also good for them going into the next round.

"For Zane and I, we’ve got really comparable lap times so I’m really looking forward to driving with him. He’s doing a fantastic job and it's been a super positive day.”

Goddard’s laps came after he raced the car at the betr Darwin Triple Crown, his first solo starts since 2021.

Goddard with engineer Wes McDougal

“It has been a super productive day for the team, we’ve tried out a lot of different things with the car,” Goddard said.

"Some of them felt really good which is awesome. It can be difficult to tell how it will translate to different tracks but overall, it feels like we have learnt a lot of good things.

"It was great to get Craig in for some more laps this time around. It’s always cool to get to work with him. We seem to be on the same page when it comes to the setup of the car which is great.

"We’ve had a fair few people out from the team today, so it has been great to just be learning off everyone.

"We’ve still got some more testing to complete in the lead-up to Sandown, the more we can learn the better it will be come race weekend.”

Lowndes and Goddard will test again before the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 on September 15-17, before the Repco Bathurst 1000 on October 5-8.

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight on July 28-30. Tickets are on sale now.