Saturday of the Gold Coast 600 has brought a mixed bag of results to the Red Bull Racing Australia garage.
After both cars qualified for the Top 10 Shootout, the No.1 Commodore went in a slightly different direction with setup, which ended up being a hindrance more than a help, and Jamie qualified fifth, while his teammate Lowndesy used too much kerb at Turn 2, triggering the sensor, disqualifying his lap and leaving him to start from 10th.
Co-drivers PD and Richo started the 300km lap race, which got off to a slow start with a safety car due to an incident off the line.
Despite having fantastic car speed, which took JDub and PD up to second, there wasn’t quite enough to claim the race lead from eventual winner Shane Van Gisbergen in Tekno Autosport’s Triple Eight-built Holden.
“It was a good race for us today,” Jamie said. “PD got us into a good position at the start of the race, which set us up nicely for the laps that followed. Unfortunately our strategy didn’t play out as best it could with the given circumstances. We lost track position in our last pit stop which hurt us but we pushed on.
“The car was great today, which is promising for tomorrow, and as always we’ll try and make some improvements overnight and come out stronger tomorrow.
“I think it was the best run race in a long time here at the Gold Coast circuit, the tyre bundles lets us go out and race hard which is a win-win for fans and drivers alike.”
The race took a turn for the worse for Craig with about 20 laps to go as the kerbs took a toll on the No.888 Red Bull car, leaving him with splitter damage resulting in a prolonged pit stop. He eventually crossed the line in 18th.
“The circuit wasn’t too forgiving to us today,” Lowndesy said. “Qualifying was my mistake and it’s a shame because the car was good and then it was even better during the race.
“Unfortunately three-quarters of the way through the race, I pushed too hard and the new tyre bundles pushed my front spoiler onto the wheels so we had to come in for an extended pit stop leaving us at the back of the pack.
“I’m confident that we can come back strong tomorrow, I’ll just have to qualify better tomorrow so Richo has a better start position, he did a fantastic job today, and we’ll come back fighting tomorrow.”
Jamie and PD have extended their lead in the PIRTEK Enduro Cup, which reaches its climax tomorrow with the final 300km race on the streets of Surfers Paradise. Catch it from 11.25am EST.
