Lowndes hits Highway 1
Holden star hits iconic coast road as teammate Whincup also heads to the USCraig Lowndes is back at number one as he continues his Supercars retirement drive.
The difference this time is that No.1 is the official tag for the Pacific Coast Highway and Lowndes was driving a classic Chevrolet Corvette at the head of an 80-car field.
The touring car legend completed the California dream drive immediately after Supercars’ rocking Sydney night race as he helped to re-open Highway 1 after $115 million repairs to a section near Big Sur that was closed by mudslides in 2017.
He also made a quick trip to Laguna Seca Raceway, which sits close to San Francisco at the top of Highway 1.
It’s also the track where seven-times Supercars champion, Jamie Whincup, will be making his overseas sports car competition debut next month.
Whincup got the call-up from expatriate GT3 racer Kenny Habul to share the American-based Aussie’s Mercedes in the second-last round of the IMSA sports car championship on September 9, following their second-placed run in a similar car at this year’s Bathurst 12-Hour race.
There were no track laps for Lowndes but he was pumped by his visit to Laguna Seca.
“I’ve ticked off two dreams in one go. As a racing driver and also as a first-time visitor to beautiful California, this is a very special experience for me,” says Lowndes.
Lowndes and wife Lara took the vacation trip as he helped the Visit California tourism body draw attention to the re-opening of the road, which is a popular tourist drive for visitors from Australia — who often hire a convertible Ford Mustang for the run.
The pair drove from San Francisco to Moro Bay, although the full length of the road is 1070km and it usually takes two days to complete.
His car of choice was a 1970 Corvette Stingray, which he picked over a DeLorean and a classic Volkswagen Kombi.
The full line-up of cars for the re-opening of the full 1070km of Highway 1 covered cars from the 1930s, when the road was completed.
It was Lowndes’ first visit to California, although he flew through Los Angeles on the way to an Indy Lights test in 1999 and was in the US more recently for the Supercars race at Austin in Texas.
Lowndes sits fourth in the Supercars standings as the championship heads to a new race at Tailem Bend in South Australia over August 24-26.
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