Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife lived up to pre-race hype by winning the traditional Bathurst warm-up, the Phillip Island 500 last weekend.
Theirs was a masterful display of controlled aggression and strategy, holding off the fast-finishing Jamie Whincup/Andrew Thompson combo for a Triple Eight one-two to firm as favourites for next month’s Bathurst 1000.
Skaife set up the victory with a solid first stint, running second behind Triple Eight stablemate Thompson before handing the car over to Lowndes on lap 47 for the run to the finish.
Lowndes controlled the race from there, grabbing the lead by lap 58, relinquishing the front-running only during the cycle of pit stops.
“Last year was a fairytale finish and today was just extraordinary,” said Skaife.
“Any time in this series to have a 1-2 finish in such a competitive environment shows the team is working at a very high level. I have definitely pulled up better than last year and its great match fitness. This is the sort of hit-out that I need before Bathurst. [And] I’ll be better at Bathurst because of it.”
Third was the FPR Falcon of Will Davison and Luke Youlden while the hard-luck story of the weekend was the SBR combo of Shane Van Gisbergen and John McIntyre. Van Gisbergen, in second place and gaining on Lowndes, looked set to challenge for the win, only to use up his tyres late in the race. Instead of vying for the lead, the Kiwi fell into the clutches of Whincup, then Davison before being pipped on the line (0.15sec) by HRT’s Garth Tander to finish a disappointing fifth.
Lowndes and Skaife now head to Bathurst full of confidence, looking to add their sixth and seventh Great race wins respectively. It’s hard to see anyone stopping them.