Even though it was an extremely shortened race due to terror and mayhem in Tasmania today, Craig Lowndes and his Team Vortex outfit secured their first podium finish of the season, even if no points were awarded!
In a race that saw a 13 car pile-up, possibly the biggest in the history of the sport, causing the track to become blocked and taking an overly long time to clean up, only four laps were actually recorded before Shane van Gisbergen, Jamie Whincup and Craig crossed the line in a 1 2 3 formation.
"It has been a crazy day!" Craig said. "Qualifying went as well as it could have done. It's always important to get the best out of the car at the right time and I think we did, even in the wet conditions, so that gave us a good start to the race."
While there was no rain falling from the sky, the track was very wet and the spray was a big part of the reason why chaos happened in the midfield….
"In the race itself there was a lot of carnage at the back, so it was lucky that we were at the front. We had a good start and stayed out of trouble. We got a couple of spots by other people slipping in the wet, so we did get lucky. But who knows what could have been."
"I think we have a car that we're going to be able to fight in and have good battles tomorrow. It's great to be on the podium for the first time this year. For our small crew it's an exciting time, but we've got to back it up tomorrow."
