MOTORSPORT: Craig Lowndes retires

Australian touring car racing legend Craig Lowndes has announced his retirement.

Lowndes will step down from full-time driving at the end of this season.

Although Lowndes was contracted to race with Triple Eight Race Engineering until the end of the 2019 season, retirement talk had been circulating since last year.

Earlier this year, one news outlet called Lowndes' decision early, attracting the ire of the Queensland-based racer and Triple Eight managing director Roland Dane.

Lowndes announced his decision to the Triple Eight team and then the media this morning (Friday) at the Townsville round of the Virgin Australia Supercar Championship.

“I’ve always said there are two key factors keeping me racing and those are my motivation to keep getting up and doing what I love and my competitiveness, and for me, nothing has changed,” Lowndes official statement read.

“But at the same time, I want to make sure I finish my last full-time season with some strong results in the bag and, after this year’s results so far, Roland and I came to the decision between us that this will be my last full season behind the wheel,” said Lowndes.

Lowndes’ stellar Supercars career includes more than 600 starts and 100 wins. He famously has raced for Holden, Ford and then Holden again. He joined Dane’s squad 13 years ago.

Triple Eight has confirmed Lowndes will continue to be “an integral part of the Triple Eight family for the foreseeable future by taking on the role of Team Ambassador, as well as co-driving one of the Triple Eight Commodores in the endurance events”.

“It will be an extremely emotional day on Sunday of Newcastle when Craig heads out for his final race as a full-time driver, but we’re delighted that he’s chosen to stay with Triple Eight next year and hopefully into the future,” said Dane.

“He’s a massive part of the team here and has played a huge role in making Triple Eight what it is today,” Dane added.

Lowndes said the decision was not based on alternative team offers.

“I definitely won’t be pursuing a drive with any other teams in Supercars. I’ll be staying with Triple Eight and I’m looking forward to an exciting new chapter as an ambassador for the team and of course co driving with Triple Eight in the endures,” the 44-year-old said.

Lowndes also announced he would join Supercars’ television commentary team but offered no more details.