Craig Lowndes extends lead with final Tasmania win

Craig Lowndes has extended his championship lead after winning the third and final V8 Supercars race in Tasmania.
”Yesterday was a mixed bag of results. The car was brilliant today, big thanks to the guys in the team,” said Lowndes after the race.

Lowndes out-dragged Triple Eight team-mate Jamie Whincup to the first corner and was on his own after that. Whincup had to defend from Volvo Polestar Racing’s Scott McLaughlin in the early part of the race, but managed to stay ahead while McLaughlin dropped back after the pit stops.

HRT driver James Courtney was the first to make his way past McLaughlin for third position in the race, making contact with the Volvo driver while exiting the pits.

Will Davison in the Erebus Motorsport Mercedes got past McLaughlin after the final pit stop but soon came under hard pressure from Brad Jones Racing driver Fabian Coulthard, who also had got past McLaughlin in the final part of the race. Coulthard was all over the back of Davison in the closing stages, but was unable to get past as Davison equalled the best so far V8 Supercars result of Erebus Motorsport in fourth position.

McLaughlin crossed the finishing line in sixth position, dropping three positions from his grid spot, right ahead of Tekno Autosports driver Shane Van Gisbergen in seventh.

The top Ford driver was Mark Winterbottom in ninth position behind Walkinshaw Racing’s Tim Slade in eighth position.

The V8 Supercars Championship continues next weekend with the Winton 400.