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Craig Lowndes has won the Bathrust 1000 for the sixth time and notched V8 Supercars race win number 101 along with partner Steven Richards on Sunday afternoon.
The pair finished ahead of Mark Winterbottom and Steven Owen in second, while Garth Tander and Warren Luff finished third.
Lowndes first won the event nearly twenty years ago, in 1996, before going back-to-back-to-back in 2006, 2007 and 2008. He won again in 2010 before claiming his sixth victory today.
The win also saw Lowndes record his thirteenth time on the podium at Mount Panorama, overtaking the likes of Peter Brock, Jim Richards and Larry Perkins.
“It’s quite amazing. I think as the day went on, the car got better, and Richo did a fantastic job,” said Lowndes.
“I had to make amends for last year. I’ve got to thank the boys. All the guys at Red Bull racing. They’ve given us a car and this man here [Richards] has been sensational, it’s been a wonderful year.”
For Richards it was his fourth Bathurst victory. “That’s not bad, is it? Not bad for an old guy,” Richards said alongside Lowndes.
“Fantastic. This is an incredible effort by the whole team. We were keeping our head down all weekend.
“We knew we had a great car, and these boys pulled off an incredible strategy and it worked spot on.”
Winner! 6 times a Bathurst Champion! Thank you for your awesome support! 😀 #TeamCL pic.twitter.com/io8BxPDxfA
— Craig Lowndes (@craiglowndes888) October 11, 2015
For the second year running Jamie Whincup had a poor day at the Great Race after copping a drive-through penalty for overtaking the safety car with twenty laps to go.
Whincup famously lost last year’s edition of the Bathurst 1000 when he ran out of fuel in the final lap, and it could be that for the second time in two years a bad mistake has cost him his shot at victory.
Whincup and teammate Paul Dumbrell led for the majority of the race but were overtaken by David Reynolds and Lowndes, with Lowndes taking the outright lead with 40 laps to go.
A crash from Scott Pye saw the safety car introduced and Lowndes, Winterbottom and Reynolds pitted while Whincup continued on. Whincup pitted a lap later and Lowndes regained the lead.
Whincup’s penalty ultimately saw him finish eighteenth.
Winterbottom managed to finish second, maintaining a 399-point lead over Lowndes at the top of the V8 Supercars’ drivers championship.
2015 Bathurst 1000 Top 10
1. | C.Lowndes/S.Richards | Holden | |
2. | M.Winterbottom/S.Owen | Ford | +1.3654 |
3. | G.Tander/W.Luff | Holden | +3.9516 |
4. | F.Coulthard/L.Youlden | Holden | +4.4166 |
5. | S.McLaughlin/A.Premat | Volvo | +9.7147 |
6. | D.Reynolds/D.Canto | Ford | +10.9831 |
7. | J.Bright/A.Jones | Holden | +12.0096 |
8. | S.Van Gisbergen/J.Webb | Holden | +14.3117 |
9. | L.Holdsworth/S.Bourdais | Holden | +14.7198 |
10. | J.Moffat/T.Douglas | Nissan | +20.1927 |