» V8s: Lowndes keeps title hopes alive with Sydney win

Craig Lowndes has claimed an against-the-odds victory in the penultimate race of this year’s V8 Supercars Championship season in Sydney, with the Team Vodafone Holden driver keeping his championship hopes alive, capitalising on his championship rival and team-mate Jamie Whincup having a nightmare race around the streets of Homebush.

Lowndes’ recovery was all the more remarkable after he threw away an opportunity of a better qualifying position when he had a spin on his hot-lap during the earlier Top-10 qualifying shootout; the error left him starting tenth, while Whincup would start five places further up the grid.

Starting from his third pole position, Will Davison managed to convert his front-row start into an early race lead, but the Ford Performance Racing driver quickly found himself under pressure from the chasing Lee Holdsworth (GRM Holden) and his FPR team-mate Mark Winterbottom.

On the tenth lap, he slipped behind the pair, and ended his afternoon early as the race’s first retiree when he crashed out, bringing out the first of several safety car interruptions in this race.

The early pause allowed many drivers in the field to explore alternative strategies; some opted to pit, while others elected to stay out and gain track position.

Whincup elected to pit, while Lowndes opted to remain out on the track, and he took his cue to peel in for his first pit stop when all his Christmases came at once: Whincup crashed at Turn 5 after his front right damper broke.

Whincup was able to limp back to the pits, and after a lengthy pit stop he emerged four laps behind, eventually going on to finish last of the classified runners.

Most of the field piled into the pits, and it was now Russell Ingall’s turn to take the lead in his Paul Morris Holden, followed by Steven Johnson (Dick Johnson Ford) and Greg Murphy (Kelly Racing Holden).

The effective leader was Homebush specialist Holdsworth, but he was quickly passed by Winterbottom, who then earned himself a drive-through penalty after he tipped Murphy into a spin on Lap 32.

Holdsworth’s team-mate Michael Caruso assumed the lead when Ingall and Johnson finally peeled into the pits for their stops, and he enjoyed his moment in the sun ahead of Rick Kelly and a fast-closing Lowndes.

Lowndes got ahead of Kelly on Lap 42 before the third and final safety car interruption (brought about when Jason Bright retired his Brad Jones Holden on the circuit), and then he got by Caruso after a lengthy battle for the lead.

The final phase of the race became one of fuel conservation, with the entire field praying for another safety car interruption to give them a little bit of breathing space.

Kelly was the first to fly the white flag, pitting his Holden on the penultimate lap for a splash-and-dash stop, while Caruso spluttered to a crawl on the final lap as he too ran dry. He had just enough momentum to coast over the finish line, although he was clobbered by van Gisbergen at the final corner, with the Kiwi scrambling over the line to claim third place.

The last-lap chaos saw Garth Tander claim a surprise second place, finishing just behind a coasting Lowndes, who now closes to within 80 points of Whincup, with tomorrow’s final race offering a maximum of 150 points up for grabs.

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V8 Supercars Sydney Telstra 500 Final Classification (Race 1 – 74 laps):

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Craig Lowndes	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	1:59:35.1252
2.	Garth Tander	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 0.8814
3.	Shane van Gisbergen	SP Tools / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 6.8218
4.	Michael Caruso	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 8.2266
5.	Mark Winterbottom	Orrcon Steel / Ford Performance Racing	+ 10.7098
6.	Tim Slade	Lucky 7 Racing / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 19.8048
7.	James Courtney	TOLL / Holden Racing Team	+ 20.2948
8.	James Moffat	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 27.9926
9.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 30.1826
10.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s / Kelly Racing	+ 33.6546
11.	Fabian Coulthard	Bundaberg Racing / Walkinshaw Racing	+ 39.5600
12.	Alex Davison	Irwin / Stone Brothers Racing	+ 41.4724
13.	David Reynolds	Stratco Racing / Kelly Racing	+ 41.6777
14.	Lee Holdsworth	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 44.6574
15.	Warren Luff	Gulf Western Oil / Lucas Dumbrell	+ 46.7945
16.	Greg Murphy	Pepsi Max Crew / Kelly Racing	+ 50.4360
17.	Russell Ingall	Supercheap Auto / Paul Morris M’sport	+ 54.2444
18.	Steven Johnson	Jim Beam Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 1:01.2062
19.	Karl Reindler	Fair Dinkum Sheds / Brad Jones Racing	+ 1:11.0822
20.	Jamie Whincup	Team Vodafone / Triple 8 Racing	6 laps behind

	NOT CLASSIFIED
DNF.	Dean Fiore	Westrac Racing / Triple F Racing	73 laps
DNF.	Paul Dumbrell	The Bottle-O Racing Team / Rod Nash	50 laps
DNF.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	45 laps
DNF.	Steve Owen	VIP Petfoods / Paul Morris Motorsport	42 laps
DNF.	Tony D’Alberto	Wilson Security / Tony D’Alberto Racing	36 laps
DNF.	Jonathon Webb	Mother Energy Racing Team / Tekno	34 laps
DNF.	Jason Bargwanna	Jana Living Racing / Brad Jones Racing	29 laps
DNF.	Will Davison	Trading Post / Ford Performance Racing	11 laps