Touring CarsV8 Supercars

Lowndes doubles up in the second Ipswich 300 race

3 Mins read

Craig Lowndes added to his earlier victory with another win in the second 22-lap race of the Coates Hire Ipswich 300 at the Queensland Raceway. Lowndes' win also sealed the 2011 Manufacturer's championship for Holden, with their 15th win in 17 races.

Polesitter, Lowdnes kept his cool to close out race two ahead of team-mate Jamie Whincup who made it a TeamVodafone one-two having passed Lucky 7 Racing's Tim Slade on the opening lap.

“It's been a long time coming,” Lowndes said.

“My last victory was with Skaife at Bathurst so it's been a long time between drinks!”

“It's been a great weekend for the team so far, and we've still got tomorrow to come but right now I'm going to celebrate.”

Unable to repeat his second-place finish in the first race, Slade still kept the leaders within range to round out the podium, his second in as many races.

“It felt like a dream sitting on the front row of the grid,” a jubilant Slade exclaimed, clearly delighted with the day’s results.

“I couldn't ask for a better day … second in the first race and another podium. I can't say enough about all my guys, they're the best bunch in pit lane I reckon.”

With just a 15 minute service window between races to fix the cars and line up on the grid, race two had got underway trouble-free, but with just four laps done, the safety car emerged.

Contact between Irwin Racing's Alex Davison and Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing's Karl Reindler left defending series champion Toll Holden Racing Team's James Courtney with nowhere to go as the pack bunched and he ploughed into the rear of Jack Daniel's Racing's Todd Kelly, ending the race for both drivers.

It was to be a bad day for Courtney's team-mate, Garth Tander too. Having started at the back of the grid after picking up a puncture in the first race, Tander had made his way up to 14th. But after being spun by Jana Living Racing's Jason Bargwanna on the last lap, he eventually finished a disastrous 23rd.

Just two laps after the restart, it was very nearly bedlam again as VIP Petfoods driver Steve Owen and Pepsi-Max Crew's Greg Murphy came together in the final turn  and the cars running sixth to tenth all arrived at turn one virtually side-by-side.

In a somewhat processional race at the front of the field, Jack Daniel's Racing's Rick Kelly was again fourth, followed home by Steve Owen and Steve Johnson improving one position to finish sixth. Murphy, SP Tools Racing's Shane van Gisbergen, Jim Beam Racing's James Moffat and Orrcon Steel FPR's Mark Winterbottom rounded out the top ten.

The Coates Hire Ipswich 300 concludes with a 65-lap, 200km race on Sunday.

Race 17 results:

Pos Entrant Driver Vehicle Fastest Lap Fastest Lap Time Race Time Laps

Points

1 TeamVodafone Craig Lowndes Commodore VE2 6 01:10:9034 28:44:5740 22 75
2 TeamVodafone Jamie Whincup Commodore VE2 2 01:10:7854 28:46:0211 22 69
3 Lucky 7 Racing Tim Slade Falcon FG 6 01:10:9870 28:47:2450 22 65
4 Jack Daniel’s Racing Rick Kelly Commodore VE2 2 01:11:1635 28:54:3627 22 60
5 VIP Petfoods Steve Owen Commodore VE2 6 01:11:3075 28:58:7950 22 56
6 Jim Beam Racing Steven Johnson Falcon FG 6 01:11:3678 28:59:7826 22 51
7 Pepsi Max Crew Greg Murphy Commodore VE2 2 01:11:3369 29:00:7820 22 48
8 SP Tools Racing Shane van Gisbergen Falcon FG 7 01:11:6706 29:03:4570 22 45
9 Jim Beam Racing James Moffat Falcon FG 6 01:11:5485 29:04:0375 22 42
10 Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon Mark Winterbottom Falcon FG 2 01:11:4826 29:07:8918 22 39
11 Fujitsu Racing GRM Lee Holdsworth Commodore VE2 2 01:11:5007 29:08:1065 22 36
12 Supercheap Auto Racing Russell Ingall Commodore VE2 7 01:11:5782 29:08:4316 22 35
13 Jana Living Racing Jason Bargwanna Commodore VE2 6 01:11:6047 29:10:2046 22 33
14 Team Boc Jason Bright Commodore VE2 18 01:11:9252 29:10:3210 22 32
15 Trading Post FPR Falcon Will Davison Falcon FG 7 01:11:6189 29:11:0315 22 30
16 Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Karl Reindler Commodore VE2 12 01:11:9917 29:12:8831 22 29
17 Wilson Security Racing Tony D’Alberto Falcon FG 7 01:11:8873 29:14:4973 22 27
18 Bundaberg Racing Fabian Coulthard Commodore VE2 6 01:12:2205 29:14:8145 22 26
19 Fujitsu Racing GRM Michael Caruso Commodore VE2 6 01:11:9577 29:16:6189 22 24
20 Mother Energy Racing Team Jonathon Webb Falcon FG 7 01:12:0340 29:19:6032 22 23
21 Triple F Racing Dean Fiore Falcon FG 6 01:12:1663 29:19:8309 22 21
22 Irwin Racing Alex Davison Falcon FG 6 01:11:9261 29:25:7919 22 20
23 Toll Holden Racing Team Garth Tander Commodore VE 8 01:11:6628 29:26:3520 22 18
24 Gulf Western Oil Racing Warren Luff Commodore VE2 6 01:12:2049 29:30:7220 22 17
25 The Bottle-O Racing Team Paul Dumbrell Falcon FG 10 01:11:5927 29:27:8231 21 15
26 Stratco Racing David Reynolds Commodore VE2 3 01:13:6661 29:59:6003 18 14
DNF Jack Daniel’s Racing Todd Kelly Commodore VE2 1 01:22:1274 01:22:1274 1 0
DNF Toll Holden Racing Team James Courtney Commodore VE2 1 01:22:4474 01:22:4474 1 0
170 posts

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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