Lowndes raises veil on fourth V8s victory ambition

SECOND place is not good enough for Craig Lowndes as he looks to finally toss off the bridesmaid’s dress for a long- overdue fourth V8 Supercars championship victory.

Lowndes might have this year become the first touring car racer to claim 100 victories but that’s not enough after seven years in the dark shadow of Jamie Whincup, his teammate at Red Bull Racing.

He’s sitting second in the series – again – but looking for something special when he rolls on to Queensland Raceway on Friday morning for his hometown race.

Lowndes has been a proven winner this year and is looking to close the gap on championship leader Mark Winterbottom before the hard graft of the twodriver enduro races.

“I’ve been the bridesmaid that many times,” Lowndes joked. “We’re in there with a shot. We’ve got to lift our act and start winning races, like we were at the start of the year.

“There’s definitely goodness in the car, to be fast. It’s a matter of extracting it out of it.”

“We definitely need to start beating Frosty to have a chance at the title. But we’re definitely coming into some circuits that I enjoy.”

There is more hanging on the 2015 championship than most people know, because Lowndes is going to be eased out of the main game at Red Bull Racing in 2016 into a one- car satellite team. It’s part of his eventual transition to retirement, with Shane van Gisber- gen being promoted to the car alongside Whincup.

“This year we have definitely put ourselves in a good place,” is the only concession from Lowndes on the coming team changes.

But he also knows that, as he runs second and Whincup is only eighth, he needs to capitalise on his advantage at RBR and bridge the gap to the Falcons commandeered by Winterbottom, Chas Mostert and David Reynolds.

“We’re in second because of consistency and a bit of luck,” Lowndes says.