Craig Lowndes' Sydney wins keeps V8 Supercars title fight open
Craig Lowndes took a crucial victory in the penultimate round of the V8 Supercars championship in Sydney as his title rival Jamie Whincup finished only 20th after having to pit for repairs
Lowndes had looked unlikely to make any inroads into his Triple Eight Holden team-mate's points lead when he spun in the top 10 shoot-out qualifying session this morning and left himself only 10th on the grid.
But in a race shaped by incidents and fuel strategy amid several safety car periods, Lowndes carefully worked his way to the front, taking the lead from Garry Rogers Holden driver Michael Caruso on lap 61 of 74, and then nursing his car to the flag on its last drops of fuel - the timing of the final safety car and pitstops having forced most of the field to conserve fuel through the last 28 laps.
Lowndes held off Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander by just under a second, with Shane van Gisbergen making it back to third in his Stone Brothers Ford despite a clash with Rick Kelly (Kelly Holden) and final corner contact with a slowing Caruso, whose car had run dry.
Whincup was part of the lead pack initially before sustaining suspension damage which required a four-lap pitstop to repair, leaving him back in 20th at the flag, and meaning his lead over Lowndes in the championship has come down from 188 to 83 points going into Sunday's season finale.
Ford Performance Racing driver Mark Winterbottom recovered from a penalty for colliding with Greg Murphy to take fifth, while his polesitting team-mate Will Davison led the early laps before damaging his steering and eventually crashing.
Rick Kelly fell from third to 10th when he had to make a final-lap fuel stop. Lee Holdsworth (Garry Rogers Holden) was another victory contender but dropped back when he made his final pitstop just before a safety car period, leaving him 14th in the end.
Results - 74 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Craig Lowndes Triple 8 Holden 1h59m35.1252s 2. Garth Tander HRT Holden + 0.8814s 3. Shane van Gisbergen Stone Brothers Ford + 6.8218s 4. Michael Caruso Garry Rogers Holden + 8.2266s 5. Mark Winterbottom FPR Ford + 10.7098s 6. Tim Slade Rosenberg/SBR Ford + 19.8408s 7. James Courtney HRT Holden + 20.2948s 8. James Moffat Dick Johnson Ford + 27.9926s 9. Todd Kelly Kelly Holden + 30.1826s 10. Rick Kelly Kelly Holden + 33.6546s 11. Fabian Coulthard Walkinshaw Holden + 39.5600s 12. Alex Davison Stone Brothers Ford + 41.4724s 13. David Reynolds Kelly Holden + 41.6777s 14. Lee Holdsworth Garry Rogers Holden + 44.6574s 15. Warren Luff Dumbrell Holden + 46.7945s 16. Greg Murphy Kelly Holden + 50.4360s 17. Russell Ingall Paul Morris Holden + 54.2444s 18. Steven Johnson Dick Johnson Ford + 1m01.2062s 19. Karl Reindler Britek Holden + 1m11.0822s 20. Jamie Whincup Triple 8 Holden + 6 laps Retirements: Dean Fiore Triple F Ford 73 laps Paul Dumbrell Rod Nash/FPR Ford 50 laps Jason Bright Brad Jones Holden 45 laps Steve Owen Paul Morris Holden 42 laps Tony D'Alberto D'Alberto Ford 36 laps Jonathon Webb Tekno Ford 34 laps Jason Bargwanna Brad Jones Holden 29 laps Will Davison FPR Ford 11 laps
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