Skaife: Third car takes pressure off Lowndes

V8 Supercars Hall of Famer Mark Skaife believes Craig Lowndes will greatly benefit from Triple Eight Race Engineering's decision to secure a third REC for the 2016 V8 Supercars season and beyond.

The reason - there will less pressure to retire and make way for a young gun driver.

It was announced back in March that Triple Eight had signed last year's Championship runner-up Shane van Gisbergen for three years, and last week the team clinched the licence (Racing Entitlement Contract, REC) required to run an additional car.

Lowndes currently sits second in the Championship, with just a 12-point deficit to Mark Winterbottom, and has consistently been a title contender in V8 Supercars, having finished in the top four every year since 2005.

Though he is set to turn 41 later this month, Lowndes has insisted he has plenty more years of racing left in him, and team boss Roland Dane labeled his last podium performance at Winton (a track traditionally difficult for the Red Bull cars) up there with his best.

On tonight's episode of Inside Supercars, Skaife commended Dane's move to continue building his Championship-winning team and prepare for the future, and explained why Lowndes would benefit greatly from the addition of the third car, alongside van Gisbergen and six and all-time Champ Jamie Whincup.

"Triple Eight have got some future-proofing going on there with Craig Lowndes ageing and Shane coming in," Skaife explained on FOX SPORTS' Inside Supercars.

"Shane's obviously a very good young talent; Roland's been, I think, quite clever in being able to grab Shane to do that, so that means they've effectively got two cars.

"I think the really good part of it is, it'll give Lowndes an exit whenever he wants - it'll take the pressure off Craig Lowndes over the next three or four or five years as to how he wants to finish his main game career.

"And I think for Craig, it's a very powerful thing."

Pit lane rumour suggests van Gisbergen and Whincup will be paired in the Red Bull garage, with Lowndes at the wheel of the third car, which could partner customer team TEKNO Autosports in the pit lane.

"Red Bull and Holden are very demanding on the result - that'll be good for van Gisbergen and Whincup, two of the best operators - but Craig is driving so well now and continues to drive well, he certainly drives well at Bathurst," Skaife continued.

"How long he wants to drive for, that should be up to Craig."

Lowndes is a five-time Bathurst 1000 winner - one of those successes at Mount Panorama was shared with Skaife in 2010.

On top of that, the three-time series Champion has been voted the fans' favourite for the past two years, since the V8 Supercars award was initiated in 2013.

So, there are plenty of reasons why Dane would not have wanted to choose between future-proofing with 25-year old van Gisbergen, and retaining the services of one of the Championship's most successful favourites.

Scott Pye, who is managed by Roland Dane and currently races at DJR Team Penske, said that while it makes sense, he didn't predict the move to three cars for Triple Eight.

"I didn't see the third car coming, to be honest, I thought it was either going to be two or four they'd go to," Pye said on the panel.

"But I think what they've done is they've offered Craig a fantastic opportunity.

"He's been loyal to that team - it's obviously the best team to be with at the moment - but he's stayed with them and it's great they've looked after him.

"[They've] put a third car in and he's able to be there - whether it's to the end of his career, we don't know - but I think it's fantastic for Craig to continue this relationship with Triple Eight."

Lowndes recently told motorsport.com he believes a third car would strengthen the team, giving them the ability to record more data and compete with other multi-car organisations.

"Race weekends at the track are going to be structured differently, and I think that is where people will see a bigger change," Lowndes said.

"No doubt that having the third car will help with extra data and extra information, so that is definitely going to improve our strengths - but of course with that we've got to make sure that we are more efficient.

"We need to make sure that we get the data out of all three cars quickly to analyse it."

Lowndes will be looking for his 100th V8 Supercars event at the upcoming SKYCITY Triple Crown from June 19-21.

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