Lowndes charges to victory in Symmons opener

By Stefan Bartholomaeus

Saturday 28th March, 2015 - 3:53pm

Lowndes led from the start and was never headed

Craig Lowndes drove away from the field to take a comfortable victory in the opening race of the weekend at Symmons Plains.

The pole-sitter beat fellow front-row starter Mark Winterbottom to the first corner and went on to lead all 25 laps.

Lowndes took the flag 2.3s clear of the Pepsi Ford, which had third placed James Courtney’s HRT Commodore in close company.

“We worked pretty tirelessly yesterday on making sure we had a good race car,” said Lowndes, who had endured a series of wild offs in Friday practice.

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“The most important part was to get that break off the start and make sure Frosty couldn’t stay in the tow on the back straight.

“We then looked after the car and brought it home.”

Lowndes scored his 98th career win

Will Davison had taken third from Courtney at the first corner but was then bumped into a spin at the Turn 4 hairpin.

The Erebus Mercedes rejoined at the back of the field and could recover to no better than 17th in the short race.

Shane van Gisbergen benefitted from the incident to score fourth ahead of Chaz Mostert, David Reynolds, Jamie Whincup, Garth Tander, Tim Slade and Fabian Coulthard.

Passing among the front-runners was non-existent after the second lap, with the top 10 all holding their positions to the flag.

The fourth lap saw Todd Kelly tagged into a spin by Lee Holdsworth amid a spirited dice for 12th, which resulted in the Holden receiving a drive-through penalty.

Scott McLaughlin and Ash Walsh were both hit by engine problems and failed to finish.

The Volvo team is now undertaking an engine change ahead of this afternoon’s second heat, which is scheduled for 1715 local time.

RESULTS : Race 4 – Symmons Plains

1	Red Bull Racing Australia	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	25	22:01.3121
2	Pepsi Max Crew	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG/X	25	22:03.5886
3	Holden Racing Team	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	25	22:04.3835
4	Team Darrell Lea STIX	Shane Van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	25	22:09.7694
5	Pepsi Max Crew	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG/X	25	22:10.1141
6	The Bottle-O Racing Team	David Reynolds	Ford Falcon FG/X	25	22:11.1896
7	Red Bull Racing Australia	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	25	22:11.3944
8	Holden Racing Team	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	25	22:12.2731
9	Supercheap Auto Racing	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	25	22:14.6622
10	Freightliner Racing	Fabian Coulthard	Holden Commodore VF	25	22:15.3370
11	Super Black Racing	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Falcon FG/X	25	22:17.2157
12	Nissan Mororsport	James Moffat	Nissan Altima	25	22:19.3702
13	GB Galvanizing Racing	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	25	22:22.8746
14	Nissan Motorsport	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	25	22:24.7058
15	Nissan Motorsport	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	25	22:27.4640
16	Repair Management Aust Racing	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	25	22:28.6809
17	Erebus Motorsport V8	Will Davison	Mercedes E63 AMG	25	22:28.8766
18	DJR Team Penske	Scott Pye	Ford Falcon FG/X	25	22:29.8759
19	Team BOC	Jason Bright	Holden Commodore VF	25	22:30.8257
20	Wilson Security Racing GRM	David Wall	Volvo S60	25	22:32.9916
21	Team Cooldrive	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	25	22:36.2986
22	Walkinshaw Racing	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	25	22:44.1996
23	Nissan Motorsport	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	25	22:49.7871
DNF	Erebus Motorsport V8	Ashley Walsh	Mercedes E63 AMG	11	19:21.5359
DNF	Wilson Security Racing GRM	Scott McLaughlin	Volvo S60

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