Craig Lowndes
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Craig Lowndes (born June 21, 1974 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian motor racing driver, currently competing for TeamVodafone/Triple Eight Race Engineering in the V8 Supercar series.
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[edit] Racing career
Born in Melbourne, Lowndes began his racing career at age 9, driving go-karts at a track in the nearby town of Whittlesea.
[edit] 1991
He moved up to race cars in 1991, driving a Van Diemen in the Australian Formula Ford Championship. Despite the car being several years old and receiving minimal sponsorship, Lowndes shot to almost immediate success.
[edit] 1993
Lowndes won the Formula Ford championship which qualified him for the Formula Ford Festival in England that same year, where he finished third.
[edit] 1994
Lowndes moved up the ranks of open wheel racing to Formula Brabham in 1994, aiming to secure a drive in V8 Supercars. His success in Formula Brabham was rewarded when he and Brad Jones paired up to compete in the 1994 Sandown 500 and, later that year, the gruelling Bathurst 1000 endurance race where he and Jones finished second. This led to an offer to drive for the Holden Racing Team at Sandown and Bathurst the following year.
[edit] 1996
His first full V8 Supercar season was in 1996 when, at his first attempt, he won the championship and also won both the Sandown and Bathurst races with team-mate Greg Murphy.
[edit] 1997
To the surprise of many of his fans, Lowndes left Australia in and went to Europe to compete with the RSM Marko Team in Formula 3000 as team-mate to Columbian Juan Pablo Montoya. He enjoyed limited success and failed to find the budget to compete a second year.
[edit] 1998
Lowndes returned to Australia and exacted his dominance once more on the V8 Supercar championship, winning the title for Holden Racing Team in 1998 and 1999. In doing so, he became the first driver since Jim Richards (1990-1991) to win back-to-back championships.
[edit] 2001
Lowndes caused a stir among race fans when he jumped ship from Holden to arch-rival manufacturer Ford, signing with a team headed up by former driver Fred Gibson. This partnership lasted for two years which ultimately proved unsuccessful due to reliability issues with the Ford Falcon race car. Despite the setbacks, Lowndes garnered an admiration from fans for his positive attitude and demeanour.
[edit] 2002
Gibson Motorsport was renamed to 00 Motorsport (pronounced "double-zero", being Lowndes' racing number) after a change of management. Lowndes's black and silver Falcon was affectionately referred to as the "green-eyed monster" for the bright green covers over the headlights. 00 Motorsport folded at the end of the year and Lowndes signed with the factory-sponsored Ford Performance Racing team for the following year.
[edit] 2003
Lowndes won a round of the V8 Supercar championship and, with team-mate Glenn Seton, placed second at Bathurst.
[edit] 2004
Technical problems, especially constant engine failures, plagued the team for the whole of the year. Lowndes and Seton teamed up again to repeat their second placing at the Bathurst 1000.
[edit] 2005
Lowndes joined Team Betta Electrical and enjoyed his most successful season since switching to Ford. He had the most round victories and the most pole positions of any driver in the championship, and finished second in the final standings behind champion Russell Ingall. He suffered a luckless run at the Bathurst 1000 that year, where, despite qualifying on the pole, he spent much time in the pits after two separate incidents which severely damaged his Falcon.
At the V8 Gala Awards, Lowndes was awarded the Barry Sheene Medal, an award akin to Most Valuable Player[citation needed] which is voted on by a team of panellists from the Australian media, motorsport magazines, television commentators and former drivers. This award was first introduced in 2003, in honour of the late Barry Sheene. Marcos Ambrose won it in 2003 and 2004, winning the championship in both years. Hence this makes Lowndes the first non championship winner to take out the award.
[edit] 2006 season
2006 was Lowndes' tenth season in V8 Supercars. He was a contender for the championship right up until the last race, only a few points behind Rick Kelly. The two fought one of the closest non-staged finishes in Bathurst 1000 history on October 8, with Lowndes winning over Kelly by just half a second. It was his first Bathurst win since 1996 and Ford's first since 1998. The win was a very emotional one for Lowndes, being the first Bathurst 1000 held since the death of Peter Brock (killed while competing in the Targa West rally the month before).
As winners of the Bathurst 1000, the inaugural Peter Brock Trophy was presented to Lowndes and his team-mate, Jamie Whincup.
Lowndes eventually finished 2nd in the 2006 V8 Supercar season. Lowndes was level on championship points with Rick Kelly after race 2 (of 3) in the final round. A crash involving Kelly where light contact was made going into the hairpin resulted in Will Davison making contact with Lowndes, damaging his vehicle. Despite receiving a drive-through penalty, Kelly went on to finish the race in 18th position and seal the championship victory, while Lowndes finished the race 31st. Kelly was booed by Ford fans when he was on the podium to receive his trophy.
Lowndes and Triple Eight Racing lodged a protest and a hearing was set up. The protest was dismissed after a long hearing and Rick Kelly was confirmed as the 2006 champion. Lowndes and Triple Eight Racing decided not to appeal that decision and proclaim themselves the "Moral Champions" for the 2006 season.[citation needed]
Lowndes won the Barry Sheene Medal for the second time in a row, despite receiving several penalties throughout the season, arguably for unsportsman driving (such as Indy).
[edit] Personal life
Lowndes is married to Natalie and they have two children: a son, Levi, and a daughter, Chilli. They live on a rural property on the outskirts of Brisbane, Queensland.
| Teams contesting the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Series | |||||||||
| Toll HSV Dealer Team | Holden Racing Team | Tasman Motorsport | Stone Brothers Racing | Ford Performance Racing | Jack Daniel's Racing | ||||
| 1 Rick Kelly 16 Garth Tander |
2 Mark Skaife 22 Todd Kelly |
3 Jason Richards 51 Greg Murphy |
4 James Courtney 9 Russell Ingall |
5 Mark Winterbottom 6 Steven Richards |
7 Shane Price 11 Jack Perkins |
||||
| WPS Racing | Team BOC | Dick Johnson Racing | Supercheap Auto Racing | Team Kiwi Racing | Britek Motorsport | ||||
| 8 Max Wilson 10 Jason Bargwanna |
12 Andrew Jones 14 Brad Jones |
17 Steven Johnson 18 Will Davison |
20 Paul Dumbrell 50 Cameron McConville |
021 Paul Radisich | 25 Jason Bright 26 Alan Gurr |
||||
| Garry Rogers Motorsport | Team Sirromet Wines | Autobarn Racing | TeamVodafone | Paul Cruickshank Racing | |||||
| 33 Lee Holdsworth 34 Dean Canto |
39 Fabian Coulthard 67 Paul Morris |
55 Steve Owen | 88 Jamie Whincup 888 Craig Lowndes |
111 John Bowe | |||||
