Craig Lowndes AM
Website Craig Lowndes

Craig Lowndes AM

7-times Bathurst 1000 Champion

Craig Lowndes is a 3-times V8 Supercars Champion and a 7-times winner of Australia’s most prestigious motor race, the Bathurst 1000 and 2-times winner of the Bathurst 12 Hour. He is a current driver in the Supercars Championship driving the Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is also a TV commentator.

Starting in karting at the age of nine, to Formula Ford and Formula Holden, Craig burst onto the touring car scene in 1994 with the Holden Racing team, doing enough on a late call up debut at Sandown to secure the seat for Bathurst. Craig became a household name in that Great Race, launching an audacious pass for the lead on John Bowe in the closing stages and eventually finishing second. He made his full-time debut in 1996, taking the clean sweep of the Supercars title followed by Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 victories.

Pursuing his Formula 1 dream, Craig headed abroad in 1997 to contest International FIA Formula 3000 series but he returned home after a tough single campaign. Two more Supercars titles with HRT followed in 1998 and ’99, before he made the massive jump from the factory Holden team to Ford, with the revamped Gibson Motorsport in 2001. After a second season with the team, which became 00 Motorsport in 2002, Craig was on the move again to Ford Performance Racing.

Craig joined Triple Eight in 2005 and never looked back. A fourth title proved elusive, finishing second in the championship six times including the controversial finish to 2006 against Rick Kelly.

Bathurst is his happy hunting ground, including the infamous “Three-Peat” of victories alongside Whincup that started with the 2006 race immediately after the death of Craig’s mentor and close friend Peter Brock. Back in a Holden following Triple Eight’s brand switch, Craig conquered Mount Panorama again in 2010 with former HRT team-mate Mark Skaife, and in ’15 and ’18 with Steven Richards. That leaves his Great Race tally at seven victories and a record 14 podiums… for now. Craig’s love of Motorsport has seen him race in other categories, including an Australasian Safari Rally win, a podium in the prestigious 24 Hours of Spa in a Ferrari 458 and two Blancpain Bathurst 12 Hour victories.

Craig is the first Driver in Australian Touring Car Championship / Supercars Championship history to reach 100 race wins. Craig is also an Inductee to the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame, a five-time Barry Sheene Medal recipient and was bestowed the Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his success in motorsport and contribution to the broader Australian community, particularly through road safety.

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