Tough Day in the Office for TeamVodafone
In a series of unfortunate events, Craig Lowndes struggled through the opening race at Round 7 of the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Queensland Raceway today with an ongoing engine misfire forcing him from the top three to ultimately finish in 28th position.
His teammate Jamie Whincup, fared slightly better finishing ninth, but was as high as fourth before yet another racing incident with Will Davison dropped him five places.
Lowndes who qualified fourth and started well to gain one spot said he was very disappointed to again not be able to compete against the top racers this weekend.
“My weekend is now about playing catch-up Charlie and I have never started this far back on our home track,” said Lowndes.
“Russell (Ingall) and I were having a great battle until the engine misfire started and then it was a race against myself to try and better 1min 30seconds a lap!”
“I salvaged 14 points and the team will rally tonight to determine what caused the problem,” he continued.
Whincup who was reflective on his disappointing qualifying result said he should have been on the second or third row of the grid not the fifth row.
“I clearly appreciate now that qualifying really is everything in these sprint rounds,” said Whincup. “I know we have good qualifying pace and I can string a quick lap together I just need to put it together in the last sector of qualifying.”
“Our pitstop strategy was good. After the stop I was in fourth position just behind Craig, so the race was there for the taking.
“Unfortunately I got involved in yet another racing incident which sent me back five spots. Tonight the guys and I will spend some time sorting out some minor handling issues so I can hopefully move forward tomorrow,” stated Whincup.
The Queensland 400 will conclude tomorrow with the final two 38-lap V8 Supercar races to be held at 11.00am and 1.40pm.
V8 Supercar Top Ten Race 1 Results
1. James Courtney, 100pts
2. Mark Winterbottom, 92pts
3. Russell Ingall, 86pts
4. Garth Tander, 80pts
5. Mark Skaife, 74pts
6. Will Davison, 68pts
7. Jason Richards, 64pts
8. Rick Kelly, 60pts
9. Jamie Whincup, 56pts
10.Lee Holdsworth, 52pts
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