Whincup stalls as Craig Lowndes fights back

CRAIG Lowndes has roared back into championship contention, leading from start to finish to beat Ford's Mark Winterbottom.

Craig Lowndes

CRAIG Lowndes roared back into championship contention yesterday, leading from start to finish to beat Ford's Mark Winterbottom and revive his bid for a fourth Supercars crown.

Describing this weekend as a "make or break" round of racing, Lowndes recovered after blowing an engine in practice to blitz the field and teammate Jamie Whincup, who recovered from a poor start to finish fourth.

Lowndes, 39, has not won a championship since 1999 and yesterday's emphatic two-second win puts him back in touch with Whincup, Winterbottom and Will Davison. He cut 21 points from Whincup's lead with his fourth consecutive win at Queensland Raceway.

"I am not going to give up on this thing until I am mathematically out of the equation," Lowndes said.

"I am going to keep on trying because anything is possible in this championship. We saw that last year at Homebush and it only came down to 35 points at the end of the day.

"We are going to keep pushing on because I know Jamie will bounce back tomorrow."

James Moffatt and Steve Owen collided on the first lap after Whincup stalled his car on the start-line, gifting Lowndes the lead.

In seventh place, Whincup adopted a different strategy and pitted for soft tyres on lap two after Michael Caruso and David Reynolds had a high-speed shunt.

Lowndes made the most of a home track advantage, attacking Queensland Raceway to never be challenged after powering his way to a two-second lead over Winterbottom's Falcon.

The three-time champion thought his day may have been over after he was forced to change his engine following a failed practice session.

"We were lucky we had a practice session because normally we don't and that would have happened in qualifying.

"We had a problem with the engine and luckily enough we were able to get the car back into the pits. It was terminal and we were very busy getting it ready for qualifying."

The bash and barge at the back of the field continued to the end, with former Formula One world champion Jacques Villenueve smashing into Taz Douglas before spinning across the asphalt.

Russell Ingall qualified strongly and clawed his way to his season-best result, a fifth place.

Whincup revealed his clutch caused him problems on the start-line and he vowed to bounce back in today's race.

"I had a clutch issue," Whincup said.

"It sounds like an excuse but that is what happened. The clutch didn't work at the start and that was the issue. We got a safety car after that and I came straight in for soft tyres.

"That was a bit of fun because I was able to roar through the pack on soft tyres and make up some ground.

"Once the second stops came it was a different story. I pushed on hard and burnt out the tyres. I had nothing left at the end to fight with.

"I think third was about the best we could have finished but we will fight on tomorrow."

Lowndes said there was still improvement left in his car for today's 200km race..

The other championship contender, Will Davison, finished sixth with his Falcon failing to find the same gains as Whincup on the soft tyres after a second-lap pit-stop.