Taking the soft option almost paid off for Craig Lowndes but in the end he became a hard luck story as Ford's Will Davison claimed victory in the opening 200km V8 Supercars at Townsville yesterday.
A bold plan to be the only driver to start on the faster soft compound tyres initially paid big dividends for Lowndes, jumping from 12th on the starting grid to the lead by the ninth of 70 laps. At one stage the five-time Bathurst champion was 22 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.
He held his nerve after finally switching tyres with 39 laps left, regaining the lead ahead of a pursuing pack led by Davison. However, Lowndes was finally overwhelmed by Davison by lap 58 as his hard tyres - and hopes of a podium finish - went up in smoke.
"We had to do something different. We opted for softs early and had a great start," Lowndes said. "But the hards went away faster than I thought."
Instead of taking a big chunk out of Holden teammate Jamie Whincup's series lead, Lowndes had to settle for fourth spot. He now trails Whincup by 135 points.
