After starting the opening race of the 2017 Supercar Championship season from 13th on the grid, Team Vortex driver Craig Lowndes crossed the line at the end of a grueling 250 kilometer race ion a pleasing eighth place.
Up until the very end of the first half of the Clipsal 500, Craig was running in a strong sixth place, keeping his Red Bull Holden teammate, Jamie Whincup, firmly behind him. However, with only a few laps remaining, Craig was trying to conserve fuel so Jamie, then Nick Percat, made their moves and put the Supercar veteran back into eighth place.
Despite that however, Craig was more than happy with the way his car performed and is now looking forward to tomorrow’s race two….
We made some changes from the practice session this morning, which we thought improved the car, it was much nicer to drive and was very kind on its tyres," he said. "We had a ripper start in the race and got amongst it all in the beginning. The strategy was to go long at the start of the race, which we did."
"Then in the closing stages we had a great battle trying to catch Rick Kelly, but of course we had Jamie (Whincup) behind us. Our rear tyres were starting to go off towards the end, but our biggest issue was fuel. We were conserving fuel in those last three laps to bring it home, which allowed Jamie and Percat to pass. All in all, to start where we did in 13th and finish eighth was a good achievement. The guys did a great job and the car was great to drive."
