The V8 Supercar Championship Series returns to Sydney Motorsport Park this weekend, a site of great significance for TeamVodafone which enters the event with form on its side. The Brisbane-based team scored its first-ever V8 Supercar podium finish at the circuit in 2004, followed by its first-ever race and round wins in 2005.
Craig Lowndes was at the wheel of the #888 V8 Supercar on each occasion, and currently tops the list for most race wins in the current field of drivers.
Lowndes has won four races and finished in the top 10 in 26 of 29 race starts since his ATCC debut in 2006.
“I’m delighted to now return to Sydney Motorsport Park, I have great memories there as it was the first victory that I had with Triple Eight,” Lowndes said.
“It’s a circuit that I love because it’s fast flowing and hard on tyres, it’s a real drivers track.
“We’ve got that hard and soft tyre combination to use this weekend which always makes it difficult to set up the Commodores but always makes the race very interesting,” Lowndes concluded.
Reigning V8 Supercar Champion, Jamie Whincup is yet to score a race win or a pole position at the circuit, with the #1 TeamVodafone driver finishing in the top five for each of the six races he has competed in.
“I can’t set my expectations too high, I haven’t had a decent result at Sydney Motorsport Park before,” Whincup admitted.
“We we’re there or thereabouts in 2007 and 2008 but I think it’s going to be completely different to when we were there last due to small modifications and the resurfacing of three or four of the corners.
“The two day format is going to be a bit weird for us, obviously we trialing it out to see what it’s like for next year, it will be fairly intense weekend but interesting to see how it pans out,” Whincup concluded.
The next pole position taken by either Whincup or Lowndes will mark Triple Eight Race Engineering’s 50th championship pole position since debuting in the V8 Supercars Championship at Sandown in 2003.
Whincup leads the 2012 title chase by 82 points over Mark Winterbottom heading to Sydney Motorsport Park, with teammate Lowndes in fourth on 1796 points.