R6S PREV - Unbeatable Lowndes aims for Ford 3-peat
22/6/2001 13:39 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Ford’s golden boy Craig Lowndes has every reason to be confident this weekend, the sixth round of the Shell Championship Series at Western Australia’s Barbagallo Raceway.
Lowndes’ love-affair with the 2.4km Barbagallo circuit is an enviable one – he’s never lost a race at the complex since his debut in 1996 – and, despite tackling the dustbowl for the first time in a Ford, the impregnable racer is confident of keeping his 12-from-12 race record intact.
“There’s no reason why my Gibson Motorsport 00 Falcon shouldn’t go well at Barbagallo, and seeing that it’s my 27th birthday on Thursday (yesterday), a round win would be a nice present,” Lowndes said.
Barbagallo sees a return to the 20-minute ‘triple sprint’ format, due to the circuit’s inability to cope with the pressures of pit stops.
Lowndes says qualifying and car set-up will be crucial.
“The driver who’s quick off the line at the start of the race will always do well in the sprint races, and that comes down to set-up,” he said.
"In the last few years, I have been able to qualify well enough to get to the front and control the pace which helps you conserve your tyres and, ideally, while I am in a different car this weekend, the aim will be to follow that same pattern.”
While Lowndes’ defection to Ford this season was seen as a deterrent to success, Falcon mounts have quickly become prized seats. With wins to Marcos Ambrose (Hidden Valley) and Steven Johnson (Canberra), the blue oval is on an unlikely hat-trick.
Buoyed by his breakthrough GMC 400 triumph a fortnight ago, Johnson wants to snare the Ford three-peat.
“Winning is what we’re all in the business for, and I know I have to keep on winning if I am serious about the championship,” third-placed Johnson said.
“It’d be fair to say our car is at its best at street tracks like Canberra, but we have made several changes recently we think will improve it on road courses, so I see no reason why we won’t be very competitive again,” he said.
Marcos Ambrose’ blinding speed, particularly in qualifying, will serve the Stone Brothers racer well this weekend, while a race win to Steven Richards in Canberra (albeit under reverse grid conditions) has the Ford-Tickford outfit confident of a repeat dose.
The Holden Racing Team provided the strike-power for Lowndes’ Barbagallo streak, and with Mark Skaife and Jason Bright leading the Shell Series, they’ll start as emphatic favourites to snatch a round win back for Holden.
Leading Bright by 14-points in the Shell Series, Skaife notes the impressiveness of his team’s feat, but concedes, “it doesn’t count for much.”
"The thing about Wanneroo is, the short track brings the field together and it's incredibly close,” he said. “That closeness can also lead to people taking risks that in turn, can then lead to the possibility of contact between cars and your day can be very easily ruined.”
Meanwhile Bright, keen to wrestle the championship lead he lost in Canberra back from his team-mate, adds tyre and brake ware as important factors this weekend.
"The Barbagallo surface is very abrasive and can knock the rear tyres about badly, while it can take its toll on brakes also. The stop at the bottom of the hill is possibly the hardest braking point of any circuit in the country,” he said.
Garth Tander’s season has taken a turn for the better after an impressive Canberra run. In front of his home crowd – possibly for the last time in the foreseeable future – Tander will be spurred on to continue his mid-season revival.
"It’s great to be heading to my home track on the back of our best result for the year,” the 24-year-old said.
“We will be pretty confident as the Valvoline Cummins car was the quickest Commodore on the track in Canberra and we were the only ones who managed to split the HRT cars at this track last year."
And Tander is under no illusions as to where his main competition will emerge from, saying; "I think the HRT winning streak is more of a true form guide than Lowndes'"
Holden’s challenge is a formidable one, including a K-Mart Racing outfit desperate to put a forgettable Canberra campaign behind them, and a firing-on-all-cylinders Russell Ingall.
Tomorrow’s program is a busy one, including practice, qualifying, the top ten shootout, and the first 20-minute sprint. The final two races are on Sunday.
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