Touring CarsV8 Supercars

Lowndes Scores Ipswich 300 Hat-Trick

2 Mins read

A clean sweep in the Coates Hire Ipswich 300 and a day to forget for Team Vodafone team-mate Jamie Whincup has put Craig Lowndes in sight of a first V8 Supercars championship in 12 years.

Following on from his two wins on Saturday at the Queensland Raceway, Lowndes took pole position and led the race from flag to finish in Sunday’s 65-lap event. Separated by less than two seconds for the duration of the race, Lowndes held off the weekend's other big winner, Lucky Seven Racing's Tim Slade, to cut Whincup’s series lead to 98 points with six rounds left.

“It's our home track and the guys did a sensational job here,” said an ecstatic Lowndes.

“We had great strategy going on and again to our guys, thank you it was a fantastic day.”

Taking third place behind Slade was SP Tools Racing's Shane van Gisbergen finishing over 30 seconds after his Stone Brothers Racing stable-mate, the first time since 2005 the team have finished the weekend with two of its drivers on the podium. Jim Beam Racing's James Moffat made it past fellow career-best finisher Stratco Racing's David Reynolds to take fourth with just five laps remaining. Toll Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander was one of the biggest movers, going from 19th to sixth while fellow Walkinshaw squad member Bundaberg Racing's Fabian Coulthard finished seventh with Irwin Racing's Alex Davison, Jim Beam Racing's Steve Johnson and Whincup rounding out the top ten.

Whincup had qualified second on the grid, but was forced to pit on the warm-up lap to remove the cover from his engine's injector trumpets that had been inexplicably left on for the race. Returning to the track as the field completed the first lap, the series leader was then told to come back in to complete a drive-through penalty for speeding in pit lane – losing him more than a minute to Lowndes in total. Despite this, he rejoined at the rear of the field charging through to salvage 10th spot.

There was even more controversy for the TeamVodafone driver when he made contact with Jack Daniel's Racing's Rick Kelly on the final lap. Kelly who had been inside the top ten ended the race 17th as a result and the collision saw Whincup beach the Holden Commodore in a sandtrap after the chequered flag.

The Championship continues at Phillip Island next month as the season's endurance events get underway, starting with the L&H 500 from the 16th to the 18th September.

Race 18 results:

Pos Entrant Driver Vehicle Fastest Lap Fastest Lap Time Race Time Laps
1 TeamVodafone Craig Lowndes Commodore VE2 44 01:10:5839 01:19:06:1660 65
2 Lucky 7 Racing Tim Slade Falcon FG 22 01:10:6151 01:19:07:2403 65
3 SP Tools Racing Shane van Gisbergen Falcon FG 23 01:11:1421 01:19:40:1213 65
4 Jim Beam Racing James Moffat Falcon FG 45 01:10:6098 01:19:41:6030 65
5 Stratco Racing David Reynolds Commodore VE2 24 01:10:8807 01:19:48:8834 65
6 Toll Holden Racing Team Garth Tander Commodore VE 22 01:10:8160 01:19:52:5633 65
7 Bundaberg Racing Fabian Coulthard Commodore VE2 43 01:10:7426 01:19:53:0609 65
8 Irwin Racing Alex Davison Falcon FG 46 01:11:1110 01:19:54:2194 65
9 Jim Beam Racing Steven Johnson Falcon FG 42 01:11:0838 01:19:57:5613 65
10 TeamVodafone Jamie Whincup Commodore VE2 25 01:10:1637 01:20:02:8436 65
11 Supercheap Auto Racing Russell Ingall Commodore VE2 23 01:10:6622 01:20:03:7112 65
12 Toll Holden Racing Team James Courtney Commodore VE2 49 01:10:7064 01:20:03:7926 65
13 Pepsi Max Crew Greg Murphy Commodore VE2 22 01:11:0076 01:20:05:9337 65
14 Fujitsu Racing GRM Michael Caruso Commodore VE2 20 01:10:6679 01:20:06:0224 65
15 Jack Daniel’s Racing Todd Kelly Commodore VE2 45 01:10:8502 01:20:06:2218 65
16 Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Karl Reindler Commodore VE2 49 01:10:8188 01:20:10:0226 65
17 Jack Daniel’s Racing Rick Kelly Commodore VE2 20 01:10:7673 01:20:13:4547 65
18 Fujitsu Racing GRM Lee Holdsworth Commodore VE2 46 01:11:0051 01:20:14:8292 65
19 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon Mark Winterbottom Falcon FG 47 01:11:0793 01:20:18:3100 65
20 Wilson Security Racing Tony D’Alberto Falcon FG 46 01:10:6689 01:20:18:9727 65
21 Trading Post FPR Falcon Will Davison Falcon FG 46 01:10:9228 01:19:11:4484 64
22 Mother Energy Racing Team Jonathon Webb Falcon FG 46 01:11:2837 01:19:17:4881 64
23 Gulf Western Oil Racing Warren Luff Commodore VE2 46 01:11:2806 01:19:32:3251 64
24 The Bottle-O Racing Team Paul Dumbrell Falcon FG 44 01:11:0836 01:19:41:0795 64
25 Triple F Racing Dean Fiore Falcon FG 46 01:11:1577 01:19:51:6940 64
26 Jana Living Racing Jason Bargwanna Commodore VE2 51 01:11:5139 01:20:12:8733 64
27 VIP Petfoods Steve Owen Commodore VE2 2 01:11:2695 01:19:39:4401 63
28 Team Boc Jason Bright Commodore VE2 26 01:10:9575 01:19:19:7856 53
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About author
Andy is our resident V8 Supercars reporter. He also runs the V8 Supercars fan site www.v8scglobal.com and works as a freelance motorsport writer (with experience in both the World and British Touring Car Championships). You can find him on Twitter at @andychampness or contact him via his website www.andychampness.co.uk
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