Lowndes says he’s not done
CRAIG Lowndes insists he is not a spent force in the Supercars Championship and has “no doubt” he can dominate again.
Lowndes is facing his worst championship finish in 13 years as he enters this weekend’s Gold Coast 600 in seventh spot on the standings.
Supercars research shows the 43year- old veteran is still the category’s most popular driver despite the recent dominance of Triple Eight Race Engineering teammates Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen.
Lowndes, a three- time champion, has struggled in qualifying this year and faces finishing outside the top four in the championship for the first time since 2004 ( 20th).
But the Team Vortex driver believes he can get back to his best and has three rounds left to find momentum before the off- season.
“Absolutely, there is no doubt,” he said. “We haven’t had a podium or win this year and we really want to make sure we can do that before the end of the season. Our qualifying has been below par. We need to clean that up before we can look at podiums.
“We’ve got three rounds remaining. We want to make sure we can make the most of it. I just want to make sure we finish off ( the back end of my career) on a positive note and still being competitive.”
Lowndes has claimed one podium in 2017 but the Tasmania race was abandoned with no points awarded.
It has been more than a year since his last race win at the Ipswich Super Sprint and Lowndes is desperate to add another surfboard to his trophy cabinet this weekend.
“A podium would be great for us. I would be delighted,” he said.
“We came out of Bathurst disappointed ( 11th). We were really looking for a strong result and didn’t get it.
“We’re really looking forward to the Gold Coast.”