Craig Lowndes’ two wins on the trot in the V8 Supercar Championship Series has catapulted the three-time champion into the lead of the series, and as
Matthew Agius reports looks set to extend his lead at Queensland Raceway.
Consistency is the key to winning this continually evolving championship, and Lowndes of the Team Betta Electrical Ford outfit has certainly done just that – with a ultra strong display in the final race at Hidden Valley last weekend affirming his favouritism for the championship instilled upon him at the start of the year.
With the current ladder showing the Toll HSV Dealer Team’s Garth Tander sitting atop the championship after five rounds, the adjusted table paints a much closer picture. With the ‘drop your worst round’ system operating this year, fans would be unable to see which driver leads the championship on net terms. However Crash.net’s calculations indicate that Craig Lowndes has overtaken former teammate Mark Skaife on adjusted points, and leads the rest of the series by forty-eight points.
Skaife’s retirement from the reverse-grid hurt his championship lead, but maintains a top two position, and a small buffer of sixteen points to third placed Garth Tander. Both Tander and teammate Todd Kelly benefited from their second double podium at Hidden Valley at the weekend, and each moved up a place to be sitting third and fourth respectively – within a race win of leader Lowndes. As a consequence of the Toll HSV Dealer Team’s successful upward momentum however, Ford revelation Mark Winterbottom conceded two places and has slipped down to fifth position.
