While his Red Bull Racing teammate Jamie Whincup was busy beating his all-time win record at the Sydney Motorsport Park Circuit this afternoon, Craig Lowndes was busy fighting engine issues in his Team Vortex contender.
After a disappointing qualifying saw him starting the second race of the weekend from 14th on the grid, Craig had hoped for improvements during the 200km race….
"Qualifying didn't quite go to plan, I made a couple of small errors and you can't make too many around here," he said.
…but despite the fact that the 888 Commodore had race pace, a faulty sensor claimed that his left rear tyre was deflating and he came into the pits as a result, a lot early than originally planned.
"We actually had a good car in the race, but there was some issue with the tyre sensor and we came in earlier than we expected."
With a new strategy in hand, the safety car saw that go out the window and a new strategy was needed. However, it was all to no avail as an engine issue forced the likeable Queenslander into the pits once again.
"We had more fuel on board so we were hoping that would pay back later in the race, but unfortunately we had an engine issue with a broken rocker, which forced us out," he continued. "We lost a number of laps, but the guys did a great job getting the engine fixed. We rolled around and still scored some points and obviously points are valuable at the moment. A disappointing day, but it's encouraging that the team didn't give up."
Craig ended the day in 24th.
