Craig Lowndes, capitalized on teammate and points leader Jamie Whincup’s ill fortune last weekend to complete a clean sweep of all three races at Queensland Raceway. A dream run at the Ipswich 300 has put Craig Lowndes 98 points off the V8 Supercar Championship, well within striking distance.
The Holden Triple 8 Vodafone team driver finished more than a second ahead of Tim Slade with Ford young gun Shane van Gisbergen in third. Slade drove to the challenge, finishing second, third and second respectively in the weekend’s three races at Ipswich.
Series leader, Jamie Whincup had no luck after a pit crew member forgot to take off the engine cover, missing the start of the race when he pitted with throttle problems in the warm-up lap. When he finally got on the track, as the field completed the first lap, he was ordered to come back and complete a drive-through penalty for speeding in pit lane. Whinchup finished in tenth position after colliding with Holden’s Rick Kelly, ending up in the kitty-litter.
Five time Bathurst champion Lowndes, and five times series winner Mark Skaife, dominated the endurance rounds last year and will again team up for the big ones this year. The pair will be very hard to beat in the endurance events (double points) which could easily present Lowndes the opportunity to clinch the V8 Supercar Championship by the end of the season.
Lowndes, who last won a championship in 1999, had his 80th career win on Sunday and is now 9 victories short of surpassing all time leader Mark Skaife. With only six rounds remaining, last weekend’s result secured Holden the Manufacturers Championship for 2011.