V8 Supercars legends pay tribute to Lowndes

Former V8 Supercars champions have paid tribute to Craig Lowndes following the Red Bull driver’s 100th career race win.

Lowndes chalked up the milestone on Saturday at Hidden Valley in what, coincidentally, was the 888th ATCC/V8SC race.

The first to reach 100 wins, Lowndes now sits nine clear of team-mate Jamie Whincup at the top of the all-time honour roll.

Mark Skaife, who is third on 90 wins and held the record until Lowndes surpassed him in May, 2013, says the latest achievement cements his former team-mate’s place among the greats.

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“You just can’t commend him any more, it’s just an extraordinary achievement,” said Skaife in his role as V8 Supercars analyst for Fox Sports.

“It’s been an unbelievable career. To be the first one to get to 100 wins it is quite an emotional moment.

“I really feel very proud that he’s kept his head down.

“You know there’s a lot of people over the years, the time when he went to Ford for instance, he didn’t win a race for a long time and people said he’s never going to make it.

“As a consequence of what he’s just done it’s put him into the all time list of the absolute greats.”

Fellow former champion and now colleague of Skaife at Fox, Russell Ingall, describes Lowndes as “the complete package”.

“If you’re giving an interview one of the questions that punters say is ‘who do you think is the best driver? or ‘who do you think is the best driver that you’ve ever raced against or is in the category?’” said Ingall.

“I’ve always said that it is the complete package, it’s not only what happens or how you drive on the track but it’s also off the track.

“He is the complete package because he is very much Brock like with respect to the crowd, he gives a lot of time back, he’s a great mentor as well as a great ambassador for V8 Supercars.”

CLICK HERE to download Speedcafe.com’s commemorative Craig Lowndes 100 wins poster.