Right time for Lowndes

COMMENT

Craig Lowndes is retiring at precisely the right time. The Supercar icon won a race this year in Tasmania, he’s running fourth in the Supercars championship, and he has not tarnished his legacy by wobbling along for too long at the back of the field.

So, he’s not at the top (as he was when he won his three touring car championships) but he’s a long way from the bottom. Not only that, but he is still by far the most popular driver in Supercars and the only racing driver to remotely approach the widespread following of Peter Brock.

And, in any case, he is not really retiring.

Lowndes will be back for the classic Supercars enduros in 2019, and most likely for several years beyond that, and no-one would bet against him adding to his sixth Bathurst 1000 victories and perhaps even matching or bettering the nine-win record held by Brock.

“It’s the right time,” Lowndes said, summing up his decision at a press conference before pulling on his helmet for the Townsville 400.

“This is the hardest decision that myself and my team have had to make.”

But it wasn’t really that hard and the ‘R Word’ has been an open secret since the start of the year. Several times he ruled out retirement as a topic during interviews, both public and private.

“I will know when it’s time. And I’ll make the announcement,” he told me earlier this year.

As an actor Lowndsey was a much better driver

Ironically, it’s Lowndes’ competitiveness this year in the latest ZB Commodore that has probably contributed to his decision to call time on fulltime Supercars racing.

His results have given him the closure he has been craving through a series of tough seasons where he has been outpaced by his younger team mates at Triple Eight Race Engineering, Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen.

Lowndes has still been struggling for qualifying pace but, given a sniff of a good result, he has been pacey and competitive. Several times he has looked like the eager youngster in the T8 crew, particularly in Tasmania where he scored his 106th touring car championship win.

“Congratulations on an amazing full-time driving career. What a true legend of the sport,” said his former team mate, Bathurst co-driver and long-time rival Mark Skaife.

The pair is already set to team up again next year on the Supercars broadcast team.

Rick Kelly, who also got his Supercars start with the Holden Racing team, spoke for much of the pitlane after Lowndes’ announcement.

“The end of a pretty special era in Australian motorsport,” he says.

“Had some great battles and some clashes, but I feel lucky to have raced with you.”

And then a special kicker: “I started in motorsport selling Craig Lowndes hats at HRT when I was 14.”

It would take a book to tell the whole Lowndes story, and there will be at least one in his own words, but there are no easy words to summarise his career and his impact on Australian motorsport.

He was a superstar from the start, learned everything he could from Brock about personal presentation and connecting with fans at all levels, and has amassed one of the best sets of statistics of all time.

Craig Lowndes wins first Peter Brock trophy in 2006

Lowndes is not done and no-one would bet against him winning Bathurst again this year with Steven Richards alongside him, or taking one of the other major endurance prizes available through 2018.

Looking ahead to 2019, Lowndes is most likely to suit up alongside Shane van Gisbergen for the enduros as Paul Dumbrell has first call (remember his is also a Triple Eight shareholder) alongside Jamie Whincup.

But a Whincup-Lowndes superteam would be one of the strongest since Skaife paired with his old mate at Bathurst, and there is a solid possibility that Dumbrell will end his race career this year.

With Lowndes out of fulltime racing, there are also question marks over the third of the T8 Commodores.

Roland Dane is refusing to commit to a three-car line-up in 2019 but, if he goes again with a car outside the Red Bull-HRT pairing it could be driven by Simon de Silvestro.

Nissan’s decision to withdraw from Supercars racing means the Swiss driver is likely to be looking for a more competitive ride next year and Dane has made no secret of his desire to have her racing for Triple Eight at some stage.

Speculation has at least some of Holden’s money earmarked specifically for a female driver in coming seasons too.