Lowndes’ uphill job
new-for-2017 tyre construction, with him struggling to optimise the rubber beneath him for a single flying lap.
“It is definitely a relationship we have with the tyre,” he said.
“I think every team is still working out how to maximise and get the best out of it. For us, we have struggled.
“There’s no doubt that we keep an eye on what Red Bull guys Shane (van Gisbergen) and Jamie (Whincup) do … but still we’re all slightly different in the way we drive a car.
“Trying to activate the tyre and get it to work on that one lap that we need for qualify- ing is always an issue for me. We are starting too far back to have any threat on a race win or a podium.”
Lowndes’ exceptional wheel-to-wheel efforts have, however, kept him in touch with the championship’s top five overall.
In all but one race – when he suffered a tyre failure – the three-time champion has finished higher than he started, including making up more than 10 spots in four of his last five races.
“If there was an award for the most amount of cars passed, I probably would have claimed that already,” Lowndes, 43, laughed.
“Our race pace and race craft and all that side of it is still as good as I ever have been.”
Lowndes has tended to dominate certain circuits such as Ipswich throughout his career but this weekend tackles his hoodoo track at Townsville.
He wants to rectify a winless record in north Queensland and says an extensive pre-brief with engineer John McGregor could make that a reality.
“We have got to learn from our mistakes and that analysis is something that Irish (McGregor) and I are doing much more of this year than what we did last year (with former engineer Ludo Lacroix),” Lowndes said.
The Townsville 400 round of the championship will comprise 70-lap races today and tomorrow.