Bathurst: Supercars great Craig Lowndes confident Triple Eight can be a Mount Panorama frontrunner

After a best-ever finish for a Supercars endurance wildcard at last month’s Sandown 500, Supercars great Craig Lowndes has had his say on the wildcard’s prospects at the Bathurst 1000 and how he rates his young co-driver.

Cooper Murray and Bathurst partner Craig Lowndes

Supercars great Craig Lowndes has hailed the big-race “composure” of young gun Cooper Murray as he backed the pair’s chances of improving on their series-best enduro wildcard result from the Sandown 500 at Mount Panorama this weekend.

In one of the most eye-catching results of the opening endurance race, Lowndes and Murray finished an impressive fifth at Sandown to match the best ever Supercars’ wildcard finish after starting well back in the field.

Buoyed by their result in the 500km race, Lowndes was confident the Triple Eight wildcard could again mix with the frontrunners in the biggest race of the year.

“We will be planning on it,” Lowndes said when asked if Murray and himself could better their Sandown result.

Supercars veteran Craig Lowndes with Bathurst partner Cooper Murray. Picture: Cooper Murray

“So this weekend, yes, absolutely we can be in the top 10.

“Cooper has had a great lead-in with the program, he had a great run at Darwin although the race result wasn’t there for him, to get in the top-10 (Shootout there) was pretty impressive.

“Then to back it up at Sandown …. we weren’t sure about his endurance. In Super2 they do a lot more mini-sprints and that was his first endurance job.

“He did a great job (at Sandown), I was really impressed. To run the car home, but also to have that pressure on Cam Waters at the end on that restart, he really did a really good job to compose himself, to get his elbows out and then to bring it home strong.”

Craig Lowndes is a Supercars great, winning three championships, and will line up for his 31st Bathurst 1000. Picture: Getty Images

Murray has already been snapped up for a full-time Supercars seat with Erebus Motorsport next year and Lowndes rated him as one of the best young talents he had raced alongside.

“To be honest, I think he is one of the better ones (young drivers) that we have definitely had,” the seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner said.

“The way he is very methodical about his approach, his attention to detail, his fitness and again I think his composure when it comes to big races, he is not overwhelmed.

“He has just got his head in the game.”

Murray was given the opportunity to tackle qualifying in wet conditions at the Sandown 500 – where the pair started 18th – but Lowndes said practice performances would determine who qualified the car at Mount Panorama.

Lowndes, however, said he had told the team he would be happy to stand aside for Murray for the chance to have a shot at a place in the Top 10 Shootout.

“Sandown was a bit easier …. we both know that track very, very well. Here it’s going to be a little bit different,” Lowndes said.

“It’s going to come down to the practice sessions and how we both feel about the car, who is going to get the best out of it.

“I said to (engineer) Wes (McDougall) already. I don’t care, I just want a good result. We did that, we put that program into place for Sandown and it worked out great for us.

“I said to Wes straight up, ‘If you think he is better for us as a collective team, go for it’.

“I have had my fair share of Top 10 Shootouts.”

Cooper Murray chats with Craig Lowndes, who he is teaming with in the Triple Eight wildcard. Pic: Supplied.

Murray is stepping aside from his Super2 racing commitments this weekend to focus solely on his wildcard drive with Triple Eight.

Lowndes said it was a “great move” from Murray to ensure he was well-tuned to the Triple Eight Camaro.

“He’s just solely focusing on the main game which is great because we can contain him more and keep his head in our world,” Lowndes said.

“To be honest I think the difference between a Super2 car and our current (Gen3) cars may have been a bit of an issue for him to know where the strengths and weaknesses are.

“So it’s great for him. He’s got his head fully square in the game this weekend.

“We can keep his head in the Camaro and really pick out the small nuances, especially across the top of the mountain where if we need to find some pace out of him we can really have time to do that. It’s a great move.”

Originally published as Bathurst: Supercars great Craig Lowndes confident Triple Eight can be a Mount Panorama frontrunner