Craig Lowndes has finally claimed his win of the V8 supercars season by wining the opening sprint race at Ipswich today, and then promptly backed this up by claiming victory in the second race as well, with a result that sees the Triple 8 Holden driver lodge his bid for a crack at this year’s championship crown.
The opening race saw Lowndes lead throughout its 22-lap distance to claim his seventh race win at the circuit, while fellow front-row starter Tim Slade shadowed Lowndes throughout the race, launching a late but unsuccessful bid for victory in the closing laps.
The podium was completed by Lowndes’ team-mate and championship leader Jamie Whincup, who carved his way up to third place after bogging it down at the start and dropping to seventh.
Rick Kelly finished fourth ahead of Steve Owen, while Greg Murphy staged a hard-charging drive from 17th on the grid to finish in sixth place. James Moffat also staged a charge up the order to finish tenth after starting from 22nd on the grid; he and Murphy sandwiched Lee Holdsworth, Steve Johnson and Karl Reindler.
Jason Bright struggled in the race conditions, and tumbled down the order to finish 21st, in stark contrast to his seventh-placed qualifying position, while Garth Tander had to pit with a puncture on the penultimate lap, finishing in last place.
————————————————————————————————————-
V8 Supercars Coates Hire Ipswich 300 Final Classification (Race 1 – 22 laps):
Driver | Entry / Team | Result | ||
1. | Craig Lowndes | ![]() |
Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Race Engineering | 26:21.5763 |
2. | Tim Slade | ![]() |
Lucky 7 / Stone Brothers Racing | + 0.9750 |
3. | Jamie Whincup | ![]() |
Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Race Engineering | + 6.8391 |
4. | Rick Kelly | ![]() |
Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing | + 17.2891 |
5. | Steve Owen | ![]() |
VIP Petfoods / Paul Morris Motorsport | + 21.9048 |
6. | Greg Murphy | ![]() |
Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing | + 24.2636 |
7. | Lee Holdsworth | ![]() |
Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport | + 26.4306 |
8. | Steven Johnson | ![]() |
Jim Beam / Dick Johnson Racing | + 26.4578 |
9. | Karl Reindler | ![]() |
Fair Dinkum Sheds / Brad Jones Racing | + 27.8654 |
10. | James Moffat | ![]() |
Jim Beam / Dick Johnson Racing | + 28.7323 |
11. | Shane van Gisbergen | ![]() |
SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing | + 30.4685 |
12. | Alex Davison | ![]() |
Irwin / Stone Brothers Racing | + 31.1384 |
13. | Mark Winterbottom | ![]() |
Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing | + 31.9460 |
14. | Paul Dumbrell | ![]() |
The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash | + 31.9733 |
15. | Will Davison | ![]() |
Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing | + 33.0710 |
16. | Russell Ingall | ![]() |
Supercheap Auto / Paul Morris Motorsport | + 33.5420 |
17. | Todd Kelly | ![]() |
Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing | + 34.3728 |
18. | David Reynolds | ![]() |
Stratco Racing / Kelly Racing | + 35.1877 |
19. | Michael Caruso | ![]() |
Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport | + 36.9100 |
20. | James Courtney | ![]() |
TOLL / Holden Racing Team | + 38.0838 |
21. | Jason Bright | ![]() |
Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing | + 38.3177 |
22. | Jason Bargwanna | ![]() |
Jana Living / Brad Jones Racing | + 38.4910 |
23. | Dean Fiore | ![]() |
Triple F Racing | + 38.8787 |
24. | Fabian Coulthard | ![]() |
Bundaberg / Walkinsaw Racing | + 40.1094 |
25. | Tony D’Alberto | ![]() |
Wilson Security / Tony D’Alberto Racing | + 42.7937 |
26. | Jonathon Webb | ![]() |
Mother Energy Racing Team / Tekno | + 49.3210 |
27. | Warren Luff | ![]() |
Gulf Western Oil Racing / Lucas Dumbrell | + 58.7018 |
28. | Garth Tander | ![]() |
TOLL / Holden Racing Team | + 1:23.5067 |
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It was “more of the same, please” in Race 2, with Lowndes making it back-to-back wins with another lights-to-flag display in the day’s second race, which started after a frantic fifteen-minute service interval that kicked off as soon as the first race was over.
This time, Lowndes led home a Team Vodafone 1-2, with Jamie Whincup getting the jump on Tim Slade on the opening lap, leaving the Stone Brothers Ford driver to complete the podium.
Lowndes’ win was enough to ensure that Holden claimed the Manufacturers’ championship title, with the General Motors owned group taking fifteen of the season’s seventeen race wins to date.
Rick Kelly managed to fend off a fast-closing Steve Owen for fourth place, with Steve Johnson, Greg Murphy, Shane van Gisbergen, James Moffat and Mark Winterbottom completing the top ten places.
There was a little more wheel-to-wheel drama in this race, with the luckless Todd Kelly and James Courtney both retiring after contact in the opening laps.
It all started when Alex Davison made contact with Karl Reindler; Davison spun and collected Kelly, while Courtney couldn’t avoid the accident and clobbered the back of Kelly’s Holden.
————————————————————————————————————-
V8 Supercars Coates Hire Ipswich 300 Final Classification (Race 2 – 22 laps):
Driver | Entry / Team | Result | ||
1. | Craig Lowndes | ![]() |
Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Race Engineering | 28:44.5740 |
2. | Jamie Whincup | ![]() |
Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Race Engineering | + 1.4471 |
3. | Tim Slade | ![]() |
Lucky 7 / Stone Brothers Racing | + 2.6710 |
4. | Rick Kelly | ![]() |
Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing | + 9.7887 |
5. | Steve Owen | ![]() |
VIP Petfoods / Paul Morris Motorsport | + 14.2210 |
6. | Steven Johnson | ![]() |
Jim Beam / Dick Johnson Racing | + 15.2086 |
7. | Greg Murphy | ![]() |
Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing | + 16.2080 |
8. | Shane van Gisbergen | ![]() |
SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing | + 18.8830 |
9. | James Moffat | ![]() |
Jim Beam / Dick Johnson Racing | + 19.4635 |
10. | Mark Winterbottom | ![]() |
Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing | + 23.3178 |
11. | Lee Holdsworth | ![]() |
Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport | + 23.5325 |
12. | Russell Ingall | ![]() |
Supercheap Auto / Paul Morris Motorsport | + 23.8576 |
13. | Jason Bargwanna | ![]() |
Jana Living / Brad Jones Racing | + 25.6306 |
14. | Jason Bright | ![]() |
Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing | + 25.7470 |
15. | Will Davison | ![]() |
Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing | + 26.4575 |
16. | Karl Reindler | ![]() |
Fair Dinkum Sheds / Brad Jones Racing | + 28.3091 |
17. | Tony D’Alberto | ![]() |
Wilson Security / Tony D’Alberto Racing | + 29.9233 |
18. | Fabian Coulthard | ![]() |
Bundaberg / Walkinsaw Racing | + 30.2405 |
19. | Michael Caruso | ![]() |
Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport | + 32.0449 |
20. | Jonathon Webb | ![]() |
Mother Energy Racing Team / Tekno | + 35.0292 |
21. | Dean Fiore | ![]() |
Triple F Racing | + 35.2569 |
22. | Alex Davison | ![]() |
Irwin / Stone Brothers Racing | + 41.2179 |
23. | Garth Tander | ![]() |
TOLL / Holden Racing Team | + 41.7780 |
24. | Warren Luff | ![]() |
Gulf Western Oil Racing / Lucas Dumbrell | + 46.1480 |
25. | Paul Dumbrell | ![]() |
The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash | 1 lap behind |
26. | David Reynolds | ![]() |
Stratco Racing / Kelly Racing | 4 laps behind |
NOT CLASSIFIED | ||||
DNF. | James Courtney | ![]() |
TOLL / Holden Racing Team | 1 lap |
DNF. | Todd Kelly | ![]() |
Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing | 1 lap |
[Image and video via V8 Supercars]
Richard Bailey
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