Lowndes takes first win of the year at Ipswich

Craig Lowndes has taken his first win of the 2011 season with a start to finish leading victory at the Queensland Raceway in Ipswich.

The Triple Eight driver had a great start from pole in the 22 lap sprint race and held off Tim Slade, who had qualified a career best second in the Stone Brothers Racing No.47 Ford Falcon to take his first win of the season and close in on team-mate Jamie Whincup in the points standings.

Jamie Whincup had a poor start from fourth, dropping to sixth at the start but worked his way up to third, passing Karl Reindler’s Britek Holden on the first lap, Rick Kelly for fourth on lap three and finally picked off GRM driver Lee Holdsworth for third on lap seven.

Holdsworth later slid down the order, eventually finishing seventh just ahead of Steven Johnson, who had made good progress in the Dick Johnson Racing Ford Falcon to work his way up to eighth.

Greg Murphy in the Kelly Racing Holden moved from 17th at the start to finish sixth, with Steve Owen taking a great result in the Paul Morris Motorsport Holden with fifth.

It was a terrible race for the Holden Racing Team, with James Courtney finishing 20th, and Garth Tander picking up a puncture whilst battling with Paul Dumbrell’s Falcon on the penultimate lap and dropping to 28th and dead last.

The second race of the weekend follows straight on from this one at 16:00 AEST.