Ambition Drives Lowndes
Newcastle Herald
Saturday November 8, 2008
HE is the master of Mount Panorama with four Bathurst titles to his name, but he has not won a V8 driver's title in nearly a decade.
Still, discount Craig Lowndes's future championship chances at your peril.The man who caused a sensation when he quit the dominant Holden Racing Team in a big-money move to Ford at the end of the 2000 season has yet to register a drivers crown for the blue oval fans, although he came close with second-placed finishes in 2005 and 2006, and a third in 2007.The best he can manage this year will be fourth position, possibly behind his youthful Triple Eight Racing teammate Jamie Whincup, who leads the standings going into the third-last round in Bahrain.But Lowndes has shown that he has got the glint in his eye with wins at Phillip Island and Bathurst in the endurance classics and in the way that he set the fastest time in practice for this weekend's Desert 400. His focus for the remainder of the 2008 season is on a strong finish to the year as a prelude to a fresh title challenge in 2009, the 10-year anniversary of his third championship. "Yes, I am sure that I still have championships in me," a relaxed and ever-smiling Lowndes says."I have still got that ambition left."These days it is a vastly experienced father of two who takes the wheel of the Triple Eight Falcon, a stark contrast to the whiz-kid 24-year-old who looked as though he might break all of his mentor, Peter Brock's, records when he took his third title in four years back in 1999 in a HRT Commodore.But winning titles is still a team effort, and the major requirement of a driver is to be consistent.Lowndes admits that is a quality he has lacked this season. A crash in Adelaide in the first round ensured a poor start to the season, and mechanical failures where the team struggled on a handful of other occasions put him behind the eight ball.But he is honest enough to admit that this year, "I have not been as consistent as I would have liked," agreeing that these days, "Some of the circuits that we go to don't inspire me."All that turned around with Phillip Island and now, says Lowndes, he and his new race engineer Jeremy Moore are starting to understand each other a lot better and the car, the suspension package, his own fitness and motivation is all coming together.The dynamic between the man who engineers a driver's car and the driver is a critical factor in the team's success. Moore used to be Lowndes's data analyst while Campbell Little was his race engineer, but this season Moore has moved up to the main job at the behest of team chief Roland Dane. "This year was always about getting that bond right and now we are going extremely well," Lowndes said. "The best I can hope for is fourth, but I am looking forward to next year."I want to win another championship before I get out of the driver's seat." The Age
© 2008 Newcastle Herald
