CRAIG LOWNDES STORMS TO SECOND IN SYDNEY
14/4/2004 22:22 (Press Release) -
Ford Performance Racing (FPR) driver Craig Lowndes raced to
second place in today's stormy second round of the Australian V8 Supercar
Championship Series at Sydney's Eastern Creek Raceway. Team mate Glenn Seton
finished 15th after a consistent drive in the inclement conditions.
The 29 year old triple V8 Supercar Champion drove an aggressive and superbly
controlled race from 15th on the starting grid in wet conditions from the start
to the end of the Safety-Car shortened 67 lap race.
FPR was the only Ford team in today's top five, with the race victory going to
Holden driver Rick Kelly, followed by CAT FPR Falcon driver Lowndes with Holden
drivers Garth Tander, Steven Richards and Greg Murphy behind.
Starting from 15th on the grid, Lowndes raced his way to 5th by lap 32, when
the team called him into the pits for his first of two compulsory stops. After
a quick re-fuel and suspension adjustment, Lowndes continued until the next
Safety Car period on lap 45 for his tyre stop. A cross threaded wheel nut on
the CAT FPR Falcon's front right wheel caused a lengthy delay, with Lowndes
emerging from the stop 45 seconds later. He re-joined the race in 15th position
and began the fight again, setting some super-fast lap times as he forced his
way through the field. By lap 49 Lowndes was up to 11th, by lap 52 he was up to
7th and by lap 58 he had joined the top three. From this point on a fierce
water-logged battle for position took place between Lowndes and Holden rival
Garth Tander for second position, the FPR driver making his way past after
several attempts on lap 66. Two laps later the Safety Car emerged due to the
dangerous heavy rain and on the following lap the race was declared,
securing the blue oval team's fifth podium finish in a little over one year in
the world's most competitive Touring Car category.
Ford Credit FPV Falcon driver Seton endured a difficult start to the race with
handling problems in the wet conditions. Starting from 14th on the grid, an
early race spin saw him drop to the rear of the field. The double Champion was
called into the pits the 8th lap for his first stop (tyres) and by lap 30 he
was 23rd. Aided by competitor pit stops, Seton made his way up to 9th by lap 38
and he was badly delayed on his second stop (fuel) as he waited behind his team
mate in the pit lane due to the wheel nut problem. From this point the Ford
Credit FPV Falcon driver complete a solid race performance over the next 20
laps, working his way up to 15th by the end of the shortened race, ahead of
Holden driver Simon Wills and Ford drivers David Besnard and John Bowe.
This result represents a welcome return to the V8 Supercar podium for FPR,
following the Prodrive owned team's disappointing start to the 2004 season in
Adelaide last month. The result also mirrors Lowndes' second place at Eastern
Creek in the corresponding round last year with FPR and continues the 29 year
old driver's impressive run of success at this circuit, highlighted by it being
the venue of his career first V8 Supercar round victory in 1996.
#6 Craig Lowndes - "We struggled a bit early in the race, as the car was not as
quick as I would have liked. We made an adjustment during our fuel stop and as
the track became drier the car was reacting very well. We lost a lot of time in
the pits due to the cross threaded wheel nut and from then it was a matter of
racing as fast and as aggressively as we could to gain a great result. I had to
drive off line to gain any kind of advantage through the corners and the battle
with Garth was great. My car had good brakes and turn in to the corners, but
Garth had strong corner exit speed, so this made it a good battle. We had a
knock or two but it was good, close racing given the conditions. The team
worked hard to ensure that we had good reliability for this race and we know
that we have a lot of work to do before New Zealand to ensure we keep
progressing. While it is great to have a fast car in the wet, we need to be
fast in the dry as well, so we will keep working towards this as the season
continues.The officials made the right decision to stop the race because it was
undriveable out there in the closing stages."
#5 Glenn Seton - "That was an eventful race - it was very wet at some stages
and I struggled with understeer throughout. I locked the front brakes early in
the race and had a spin, which set me back, but I didn't have the car speed
that I needed today. We soldiered on to the end of the race and it was a
reliable run throughout, so I'm looking forward to New Zealand."
FPR Chief Engineer John Russell - "Eastern Creek has been very kind to us with
Craig - another wet race and another Safety Car finish, it is starting to
become a bit of a familiar pattern and it would be nice to do it in the dry and
somewhere else for a change. A great drive by Craig and the crew worked very
hard all weekend and they really needed this result to keep the team moving
forward. A good drive by Glenn in difficult circumstances and we move on to New
Zealand now with very little damage and renewed enthusiasm."
Lowndes earned 186 points for his efforts today, placing him 16th in the V8
Supercar Championship points standings with 10 rounds remaining in the series.
Seton is placed 18th with 177 points. The early season points leader is Holden
driver Steven Richards with 360 points from Ford's Marcos Ambrose (348) and
Holden driver Rick Kelly (336).
Release Date: 04/04/2004
Ford Performance Racing
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