No Stress Fractures for Lowndes

Craig Lowndes has no concerns that his relationship with Red Bull Racing Holden teammate Jamie Whincup will fracture under the stress of their battle for the V8 Supercars Championship.

Lowndes leads Whincup by just six points in the Championship chase as they face up to this weekend’s crucial Sargent Security Phillip Island 360. He rates this year as his best chance to grab the title since 1999 when he won for the Holden Racing Team.

FPR Pepsi Max Ford Falcon driver Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom is 88 points off the pace and his teammate Will Davison is down by 121 points.

But with 600 Championship points and five races – including two 250km mini-marathons at the Sydney 500 season finale in early December – still up for grabs, eight drivers have at least a theoretical shot at the Championship.

It was Winterbottom who suggested the relationship between Lowndes and defending and four-time V8 Supercars Champion Whincup would be stressed by the Championship battle and that he could benefit.

But Lowndes played that scenario down.

“We will operate in the same we have in the past,” he told v8supercars.com.au.

“There is no doubt we have a healthy rivalry, whenever Jamie goes faster I want to go faster, I want to beat him and vice-versa. It has been fantastic to work alongside him because the team has always run an open book.

“We have always shared information; he has always been willing to share what he is doing, how he is feeling, how the car is feeling and vice-versa.”

Lowndes said Triple Eight Race Engineering team owner Roland Dane ensured that the fight between teammates was well managed.

“He has always said that if we start fighting each other then we are going to go backwards in the field. He is happy for us to race hard and fast to the chequered flag as long as we are up the front of field and not in the pack.”

Lowndes says he rates Whincup and Winterbottom as his primary Championship rivals, with Davison disadvantaged by being a little further back in the points.

“He is going to have to have all three of us DNF to be in with a shot of winning,” Lowndes said. “But in saying that there might be one or two of us that have a bad race. So anything is still possible. But right now ‘Frosty’ and Jamie are my two closest competitors.”

Lowndes goes into Phillip Island, a race track he loves, riding high on confidence after wresting the Championship lead from Whincup at the ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600, where he not only won the Saturday race but also claimed his first pole position of the year.

Of the top five in the Championship, Lowndes has the worst 2013 qualifying average of seventh. Whincup at 4.3 has the best and has claimed 11 poles. That often translates to track position in races, and priority in pit stops for Whincup and stacking and time delays for Lowndes.

“Stacking is one of the things that has hurt me in the past and if we get to a situation where that happens it is really going to hurt whichever one of us is the second car. I am mindful of not being that second car.

“I have always known that the qualifying aspect of me as a driver as whole is probably my weakest point,” Lowndes added. “If we can qualify around Jamie if not in front then that puts us in a strong position because we race well.”

Lowndes acknowledged the debut of new generation V8 Supercar at Phillip Island added an edge of uncertainty to the event, but he was more concerned that tyre wear on the recently resurfaced seaside circuit did not prove an issue, as it was for MotoGP.

V8 Supercars and Dunlop conducted a test on the new surface with Nick Percat driving the category’s Holden Commodore prototype and Lowndes hopes that has helped avert any issues.

“Fingers crossed we have been able to do everything to ensure we have a clean weekend of racing. You don’t want Phillip Island to come down to a tyre issue, or turning the Championship into a tyre issue.

“We want a good clean fight to the end.”

Tickets are still available for this weekend’s Sargent Security Phillip Island 360.