Evergreen Craig Lowndes remains the Supercars Championship’s fan favourite, according to Speedcafe.com readers.

The 42-year-old has taken out the 2016 edition of the most popular Supercars driver Pirtek Poll ahead of next month’s season finale in Sydney.

Triple Eight Holden driver Lowndes gained 18.6 percent of over 10,000 total votes cast to win the poll for the second consecutive year.

Scott McLaughlin meanwhile rocketed from sixth in last year’s poll to second, returning to the place he occupied in 2014.

McLaughlin’s ascent up the rankings follows an improved showing aboard his GRM Volvo this season and comes ahead of a much hyped switch to DJR Team Penske.

McLaughlin ended up with 12.0 percent of the vote ahead of Mark Winterbottom (11.1 percent), who had been second last year when he took out the Supercars title.

Shane van Gisbergen (8.7 percent), David Reynolds (7.5 percent), Jamie Whincup (7.4 percent) and Chaz Mostert (6.6 percent) retained their places in the top seven, albeit in a revised order.

By contrast to McLaughlin, Prodrive’s Mostert has been the big loser among the front-runners, dropping from third to seventh as he stares down the barrel of a winless season.

This year’s top 10 was completed by James Courtney, Garth Tander and Scott Pye, with Bathurst winner Will Davison one place further back in 11th.

Supercars will award its official most popular driver award at its gala dinner in Sydney on December 5.