It was another day of extremes for Red Bull Racing Australia at the Townsville 500 as Jamie claimed an emphatic victory in the third and final race of the weekend, while his Holden team-mate struggled with engine problems to finish 23rd.
“Townsville is a home race for Red Bull Racing Australia so there’s no better feeling than standing on the top step of that podium, it’s as good as it gets,” said the five-time champion.
“That’s what professional sport is all about – knowing that you can achieve something as a team and putting absolutely everything on the line to get the win. It was important for the team at this halfway point to turn things around which we feel we have now after Darwin and this weekend in Townsville.
“Having said that we’re not going to take anything for granted, we’ve got to keep our heads down and know that the other teams are going to step us as well so we’ll be sure to put up a fight to the very end in Sydney.”
Things didn’t go quite to plan from the start for Craig as his fantastic pole position claimed in the Top Ten Shootout turned into a P3 start after being handed a two grid spot penalty thanks to first-lap contact in yesterday’s race one.
“We got away to a good start and came in to pit as soon as the first safety car came out to put on new rear tyres and refuel,” Lowndesy said.
“We knew we had to look at fuel numbers as a result of that and a few laps in something went wrong with the engine, it started running hot and losing water and the boys started telling me to slow up and back off to try and get the fuel numbers right. By this stage I’d been passed three times so we knew we had a problem with the car.
“It’s a shame because the team did a fantastic job yesterday and I was hoping to be able to give them a reward today but it was fantastic seeing Jamie on the podium, to have a victory like that is sensational and it’s really uplifting for the overall team after a tough day for Car No.888.
“I think as Brock used to say, it was a character building weekend.”
The V8 Supercars will be back in action at the Ipswich 400 next month.
