Everything about Craig Lowndes totally explained
Craig Lowndes was born in
Melbourne, Victoria on
June 21,
1974. Lowndes is an
Australian racing driver, whose main claim to fame is as a three time
V8 Supercar champion and three time
Bathurst 1000 winner.
Racing career
Born in Melbourne, Lowndes began his racing career at age 9, driving
go-karts at a track in the nearby town of
Whittlesea.
1991
He moved up to race cars in
1991, driving a
Van Diemen in the Australian
Formula Ford Championship. Despite the car being several years old and receiving minimal sponsorship, Lowndes shot to almost immediate success.
1993
Lowndes won the Formula Ford championship which qualified him for the
Formula Ford Festival in England that same year, where he finished third.
1994
Lowndes moved up to Australia's top rank of
open wheel racing being
Formula Brabham in
1994. His success in Formula Brabham driving a
Cheetah Mk9 was rewarded with the Australian Silver Star. Craig and
Brad Jones paired up to compete in the 1994
Sandown 500 and, later that year, the gruelling
Bathurst 1000 endurance race where he and Jones finished second. This led to an offer to drive for the
Holden Racing Team at Sandown and Bathurst the following year.
1996
His first full V8 Supercar season was in
1996 when, at his first attempt, he won the championship and also won both the Sandown and Bathurst races with team-mate
Greg Murphy.
1997
To the surprise of some of his fans, Lowndes left Australia and went to Europe to further his open wheeler racing career, by competing with the
RSM Marko Team in
Formula 3000 as team-mate to Columbian
Juan Pablo Montoya. He enjoyed limited success and failed to find the budget to compete a second year.
1998
2001===
Lowndes caused a stir among race fans when he jumped ship from Holden to arch-rival manufacturer Ford, signing with a team headed up by former driver
Fred Gibson. This partnership lasted for two years which ultimately proved unsuccessful due to reliability issues with the
Ford Falcon race car. Despite the setbacks, Lowndes garnered an admiration from fans for his positive attitude and demeanour.
2002
Gibson Motor Sport was renamed to 00 Motorsport (pronounced "double-zero", being Lowndes' racing number) after a change of management. Lowndes's black and silver Falcon was affectionately referred to as the "green-eyed monster" for the bright green covers over the headlights.
00 Motorsport folded at the end of the year and Lowndes signed with the factory-sponsored
Ford Performance Racing team for the following year.
2003
Lowndes won a round of the V8 Supercar championship at Philip Island and, with team-mate
Glenn Seton, placed second at Bathurst. But the season was a relative disappointment for Lowndes as he was relatively inconsistent, mainly due to mechanical failures.
2004
Technical problems, especially constant engine failures, plagued the team for the whole of the year. Lowndes and Seton teamed up again to repeat their second placing at the Bathurst 1000.
2005
Lowndes joined Team Betta Electrical and enjoyed his most successful season since switching to Ford. He had the most round victories and the most pole positions of any driver in the championship, and finished second in the final standings behind champion
Russell Ingall. He suffered a luckless run at the Bathurst 1000 that year, where, despite qualifying on the pole, he spent much time in the pits after two separate incidents which severely damaged his Falcon.
At the V8 Gala Awards, Lowndes was awarded the
Barry Sheene Medal, an award akin to
Most Valuable Player which is voted on by a team of panellists from the Australian media, motorsport magazines, television commentators and former drivers. This award was first introduced in 2003, in honour of the late
Barry Sheene.
Marcos Ambrose won it in 2003 and 2004, winning the championship in both years. Hence this makes Lowndes the first non championship winner to take out the award.
2006 season
2006 was Lowndes' tenth season in V8 Supercars. He was a contender for the championship right up until the last race, being level on points with
Rick Kelly. The two fought one of the closest non-staged finishes in Bathurst 1000 history on
October 8, with Lowndes winning over Kelly by just half a second. It was his first Bathurst win since 1996 and Ford's first since 1998. The win was a very emotional one for Lowndes, being the first Bathurst 1000 held since the death of
Peter Brock (killed while competing in the
Targa West rally the month before).
As winners of the Bathurst 1000, the inaugural
Peter Brock Trophy was presented to Lowndes and his team-mate,
Jamie Whincup.
Lowndes eventually finished 2nd in the
2006 V8 Supercar season. After complaining of having been "unfairly" held up for up to six seconds a lap by Rick Kelly's team mates over the first two races, Lowndes was level on championship points with Kelly after race 2 (of 3) in the final round. A crash involving Kelly where light contact was made going into the hairpin resulted in
Will Davison making contact with Lowndes, damaging his vehicle. Despite receiving a drive-through penalty, Kelly went on to finish the race in 18th position and seal the championship victory, while Lowndes finished the race 31st. Kelly was booed by Ford fans when he was on the podium to receive his trophy.
Lowndes and Triple Eight Racing lodged a protest and a hearing was set up. The protest was dismissed after a long hearing and
Rick Kelly was confirmed as the 2006 champion. Lowndes and Triple Eight Racing decided not to appeal that decision and proclaim themselves the "Moral Champions" for the 2006 season.
Lowndes won the Barry Sheene Medal for the second year in a row.
2007 Season
Lowndes had three victories this season, the sixth round at
Hidden Valley Raceway, and both the endurance classics, the
Sandown 500 and the
Bathurst 1000. He finished 3rd place in the championship. His team mate,
Jamie Whincup, came second in the championship.
Racing career
Personal life
Lowndes is married to Natalie and they've two children: a son, Levi, and a daughter, Chilli. They live on a rural property in Wamuran,
Queensland.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Craig Lowndes'.
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