Despite being clearly one of the fastest drivers all weekend, Craig was the victim of two unfortunate incidents that ruined his Saturday and Sunday races.

On Saturday, a hit from behind on the run to the first corner forced Craig into the wall and sent him to the pits for repairs. He did return, albeit a few laps down and finished the race, but he was left to rue what might have been.

On Sunday Craig qualified in second position and was in a strong position to challenge for victory as the race wore on, but a stranded Garth Tander ended his race. While following James Courtney closely the unsighted Craig ran into the back of the Jim Beam racer as Courtney lifted to avoid a spinning Tander.

The result sees Craig drop from third in the championship to sixth.

“I’m just really disappointed with this weekend for myself and for the team,” Craig lamented.

“We had such great pace in the car here and a combination of things meant that we weren’t able to put that to good use.

“It’s not the ideal way to go into the mid-season break, but we are still full of confidence for the endurance races that are ahead. The team and car is working really well together and I can’t wait to team up with Skaifey and have a good result at Phillip Island.”

FRIDAY
Craig Lowndes and Team Vodafone continue to utilise the Friday practice sessions for working on set-up for the weekend and in Townsville it was no different.

The team struggled with old tyres and the low grip nature of the circuit early in the day, but by day’s end had the car in a competitive position.

Craig finished the day in fourth position after a late run on fresh tyres.

“It was an interesting day out there today,” Craig said.

“The track was really slippery, but I think as the weekend progresses the track will grip up more and more.

“We still have some work to do with the car for qualifying tomorrow, but our late run on green tyres showed that we have some promising fresh tyre speed.”

SATURDAY
Craig continued to work on the balance of the #888 machine during the first part of the 20-minute qualifying session, before firing in some quick laps to qualify first for the Top 10 Shootout.

In the Shootout, Craig looked to be on a pole lap, but a small error under brakes for Turn 11 ruined his run and handing him a 10th place starting position.

Craig’s race lasted just the length of the pit-straight before contact with Will Davison saw him tag the wall, damaging the car.

A long pitstop for repairs dropped him a number of laps down and from there it was an extended test session for the afternoon.

Teammate Jamie Whincup won the race ahead of Garth Tander and Mark Winterbottom.

“What a tough day, it really all went wrong early on the run down to turn one. I lifted slightly to avoid some guys in front of me and unfortunately that meant I got hit from behind and ended up in the wall,” Craig said.

“We’ll be back to fight another day tomorrow and I think we can fight right at the front. The car is really good this weekend, which Jamie showed, so I think we can give it a shake as well.”

SUNDAY
During Sunday’s all-in 20-minute qualifying session, Craig proved that the #888 Commodore could have been right at the front on Saturday, by qualifying strongly in second position.

He produced an early quick lap as a banker, but was unable to go quicker late in the session. Despite that, his first effort was good enough for the front row of the grid.

In the race the TeamVodafone star made a great start and raced strongly for the first segment of the race. A slightly lengthy first pit-stop saw him drop down the order slightly, but he still had plenty of pace to move back towards the front.

As he started his charge through, light contact with a wall bent his steering, but he continued to press on, only to be involved in an unfortunate incident.

While running closely behind James Courtney, the unsighted Craig ran into the back of the Jim Beam racer as Courtney slowed to avoid a stranded Garth Tander. There was nothing Craig could do and the damage forced him to retire.

Mark Winterbottom won the race ahead of Courtney and Gath Tander.

“The team did great work to get the car up and running this morning, and qualifying second was definitely a bounce back from yesterday,” Craig admitted.

“I got a really good start but I fell back to third. I was following Garth Tander and having a good run and our pit-stop went to plan. But unfortunately Tander stopped in the middle of Turn 11 and I had a collision with James Courtney.

“It put a hole in the radiator and there’s a time frame we have to fix things in and, regrettably, we couldn’t.”

2010 V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after eight events)
1. James Courtney, Jim Beam Racing, 1947
2. Jamie Whincup, TeamVodafone, 1827
3. Mark Winterbottom, Ford Performance Racing, 1623
4. Shane Van Gisbergen, SP Tools Racing, 1598
5. Garth Tander, Toll-Holden Racing Team, 1509
6. Craig Lowndes, TeamVodafone, 1479
7. Lee Holdsworth, Fujitsu Racing, 1398
8. Rick Kelly, Jack Daniel’s Racing, 1352
9. Michael Caruso, Fujitsu Racing, 1259
10. Steven Johnson, Jim Beam Racing, 1151