Asian Motor Sports

Craig Lowndes will remove his helmet, step out of a Ford for the last time and shed a few tears with his crew when the inaugural Sydney 500 roars to a halt on Sunday afternoon.

Team Vodafone team-mate and V8 Supercar champion-elect Jamie Whincup will
vacate the driver’s seat without as much as a backward glance of nostalgia.

The two drivers are approaching their impending – not to mention acrimonious - split from Ford to bitter rival Holden with vastly different attitudes.

For Lowndes it’s all about showing his gratitude before the move to Holden in 2010; Whincup’s focused on the future without any regrets for the past.

“It’s the last time I drive a Falcon car and it’s going to be a sad weekend, shutting a chapter of my life with Ford after eight years,” Lowndes said on Wednesday.

“It would be nice to finish on a high and give something back to the Ford fans and give something back to Ford.”

“For me it’s the only way we can reward our team, our fans and our sponsors.”

“To give something back to Ford is high on my agenda.”

“I will go into the weekend with the same mentality and same focus, but come Sunday night (there will be some emotion).”

“It’s a sad day because I would have loved to have continued but thems the breaks.”

“We know where we’re going next year, we know where the team’s heading.”

Whincup, who needs just a 28th place or better in Saturday’s first race around the Homebush street circuit to clinch back-to-back V8 Supercar titles, has already moved on in mind, if not body.

“I’m eyes forward. The changes next year are going to be fantastic for my team and myself,” he said.

“I’ve driven a Ford for the last four years of my career; my career’s gone for 20 percent so it’s not a huge amount.”

“When we were driving a Ford I was really vocal and really appreciated the support from those people, but now I’m just focusing on the future.”

But Whincup’s ambivalence about leaving Ford won’t match his attitude when the V8s are let loose on the Olympic precinct for the first time.

Even though he needs just 21 more points to secure the over-all championship, the brash Team Vodafone driver is not prepared to adopt a safety-first approach with history beckoning.

“I’ve got an opportunity to drive a V8 Supercar around one of the best events of the year,” he said.

“There’s probably a couple of million blokes out there who would love to have my job.”

“I’d be an idiot to cruise around and just make up the numbers and try to get 22 points.”

“It’s another opportunity for me to prove myself so I’ll get out there and go 100 percent.”

“That first race I won’t (take those) 50-50 risks – skidding into the pit bay that can get you two-tenths (of a second), I probably won’t be doing any of that – but after that it’s glove off.”

“Everyone loves to win straight up on a brand new circuit. It stamps your authority that you’re the best act out there.”

Lowndes and Whincup walked the Sydney 500 circuit for the first time on Wednesday afternoon and expressed genuine excitement over the layout.

“Street circuits change from year to year. The council may re-bitumen a section of the track or there might be some roadworks going on,” Lowndes explained.

“You can never set up a car 100 percent perfect in a street circuit because you’ve got so many different elements going against you.”

“But that’s the beauty. That’s an element of excitement for us.”

“To be able to drive the car millimetre perfect every lap for 74 laps on a Saturday and do it again on Sunday, that’s our challenge.”

Whincup added: “It’s a massively important round for everyone involved in the sport.”

“Sydney’s huge and it’s no secret we’ve struggled to get a crowd out at Eastern Creek and Oran Park.”

“We’re expecting 200,000 people this weekend, so we are putting all our eggs in one basket and making sure this event is as big as it’s hyped up to be.”

“There are no short-cuts anywhere.”