BATHURST icon Craig Lowndes believes he’ll have a very real chance of ending a near four-year drought come the 2023 Supercars enduros.
Lowndes recorded at least one top three result in Supercars Championship races for 22 successive seasons from 1998 to 2019.
That streak only came to an end when Jamie Whincup crashed out of the 2020 Bathurst 1000, and Lowndes remains podiumless ever since.
The 48-year-old shuffled across to Triple Eight’s wildcard entry last year, combining with rookie Declan Fraser to finish eighth.
He’ll return to the Supercheap Auto-backed third car this year, but this time paired with Zane Goddard.
Lowndes believes that Goddard’s heightened experience – which includes a stint racing in Europe, as well as having 47 Supercars Championship races under his belt – compared to Fraser should make them a genuine podium contender.
“We have both been talking about it and we’ve both got a feeling that we can definitely get onto the podium somewhere,” Lowndes said on this week’s episode of the Castrol Motorsport News podcast.
“It’s great to have Zane alongside us with his experience in the main game but also his experience in other categories around the world.
“He brings a lot of experience and speed to the table and I’m really excited about that.
“Last year, Declan, he’s a great young kid and again very talented but at the same time, it was his first big sort of opportunity and he grasped it with both hands. But Zane brings a lot of experience.”
Lowndes confirmed the Supercheap Camaro is hoped to run at both the Sandown 500 and Repco Bathurst 1000, and also weighed in on the redemption theme for Goddard following his infamous 2022 Great Race mistake.
“We’ve all made mistakes in our career and unfortunately for Zane it was a bad situation in the sense of the weather,” said Lowndes.
“We all knew if you went off-track you were going to be stuck or the other side of it was going to be an ice-skating rink and for Zane unfortunately the day finished too early.
“But look, this is a great opportunity for him now to basically hit the reset button.
“And I’ve dealt with him through the Gen3 program and the demonstration runs when he has been running the Mustang and he’s a bright young kid, very level-headed, and as I said he’s very experienced.”
On the podcast, Lowndes also discusses the upcoming Bathurst 12 Hour, which he will contest in a Pro-Am Mercedes-AMG GT3 alongside Alex Davison, Geoff Emery and Scott Taylor.
