Milestone victory a relief for Craig Lowndes

Craig Lowndes has described reaching the milestone of 100 wins as ‘part relief, part satisfying’ following almost three months of hype.

The marker has been the subject of much media attention since Lowndes chalked up his 99th success at Symmons Plains in March.

The three-time champion was just a handful of laps away from scoring his 100th at Barbagallo last month, before losing out to Will Davison as his tyres faded.

Today’s win was greeted with universal applause from the V8 Supercars pitlane, while category CEO James Warburton presented the driver with a golden helmet to commemorate the achievement.

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“Part of me is thankful that it is over and done with,” reflected Lowndes in the post-race press conference.

“Every round we’ve been to since Tasmania people have been asking ‘are you going to do it this round?’

“It’s nice to finally have it done and we can focus on trying to get 101 now.

“For me its a great feeling. It’s part relief, part satisfying.”

Lowndes added that the win was made all the more satisfying by his struggles in the day’s opening heat, where he ended up 18th after a late-race spin.

Trouble in the first race meant the Red Bull crew had to hurriedly fix bent suspension between races.

When asked to recall his favourite victory from his 100, Lowndes unsurprisingly chose the 2006 Bathurst 1000.

“My all time best race is the victory at Bathurst in 2006 with the passing of Peter Brock,” he said.

“That is the most emotional I’ve ever driven. I think everyone as drivers that day remembered why we race.

“The people stay with you in your memories and Peter was one of them for me. It was great to celebrate that on that day.

“Today was quite special bouncing back from this morning’s race its credit to the team they don’t give up.

“Hopefully they are as satisfied as I am.”