This year’s edition of the Spa 24 Hours saw somewhat of an Aussie invasion, with V8 Supercar stalwarts Shane van Gisbergen and Craig Lowndes joining a number of of their countrymen on the grid.
A V8 Supercar and Bathurst 12 Hour champion, Lowndes knows his way around powerful machinery, but aside from a single season in F3000 (1997) and a one-off VLN outing (he practiced but didn’t race) his European outings have been limited.
Racing at the Spa 24 for the first time was always going to be a real test for Lowndes. But managing to strike a deal to run with AF Corse put him in good stead, and it showed, with him finishing third in the Pro-Am class at the race after a race-long climb up the order.
“Steve Wyatt, the Gentlemen driver in our car, is Australian as well, and we tried to put a programme together with AF Corse to do Le Mans, but that fell over. Once that happened we looked around at what else is available and of course Spa popped up on the radar, and Steve was coming here anyway with two drivers and he wanted a fourth. The programme fitted really well with the timing of the V8 Supercars calendar, and with Shane van Gisbergen and the other Aussie guys coming over with their Lambo, it just felt right.
“It’s great to come over here and do a 24 hour race, especially Le Mans because in Australia we think back to when (Alan) Moffat brought over an old Commodore (seen below in 1986 at the Spa 24 Hours), an Australian car so it’s nice to come back here and have a bit of fun.”
So how was the experience of competing in the 24 at one of the most prestigious circuits in the world?
“It’s amazing, learning the grid, doing the parade, seeing the marching bands,” Lowndes told DSC. “The atmosphere was quite amazing to me, it was all things I’d never seen before at a race event.
“This is one of my favourite tracks of all-time. The elevation change is really special, it’s such a great layout with big high speed corners and really narrow tight corners. Any track that has elevation has character, and Spa has certainly got that. But you have to be more careful at tracks like this to make sure it doesn’t bite you. You have to be flexible and switch on when the team need you.”
Spa is without at doubt, a tough circuit. But it’s not totally unlike anything Lowndes has experienced back home, where windy tracks like Bathurst and tight street circuits like Townsville are pretty commonplace. It was the 24 hour aspect of the event which Lowndes admits tested him the most. He’s done 12 hour races before, most recently helping the Maranello Motorsports crew to a win at this year’s 12 Hours of Bathurst, but never a 24 so he went in blind.
“The biggest challenges are as simple as eating food at the right times, getting enough sleep – though i’ve only had about three hours! For me, doing at 12 hour race means I can be switched on the whole time – you collapse at the end of it, but it is possible. At a 24 though, you have to be mindful of the time, you need to go and do other things during the race and switch off. It’s been a big learning curve, but I am looking forward to coming back knowing what I know now.
“If I get the chance to come back next year, I definitely will,” he added.
Having raced in GT3 machinery before, including a Ferrari 458, it didn’t take him long to get up to speed in that sense, but it was Lowndes’ first time racing in the Blancpain Series. The mix of Pro and Pro-Am drivers meant it was at times tough to negotiate traffic, especially in the dark hours.
“Approaching the other cars, especially at night is really difficult. It’s difficult to keep your wits about you and let other cars through too.There’s a big difference between the driver standards, the Gentlemen guys are quick in a straight line, because we are all in the same equipment really, so in the corners is where you make all your time up. It was most interesting at night, because I had to concentrate really hard to avoid contact and catch up to those in front.”
The V8 Supercars which Lowndes is best known for are notoriously tough to drive, acting more like GT cars than standard touring cars. This, Lowndes tells DSC, has helped him a lot to adapt to the GT3 scene.
“Going backwards from a GT3 to a V8 Supercar would be much harder than going from a V8 – like I have – to a GT3. There’s no doubt about that. The new generation V8 Supercar is very much a step closer to a GT3 car, but you are still miles away. No traction control, very heavy cars, huge horsepower, it’s so so different.
“But that’s helped me, coming from a V8 to this means I have to get used to having aids like ABS and traction control, which is much easier than trying to learn how to cope without it.”
With a podium on his Spa 24 debut, it’s fair to say that Craig Lowndes is already at home with the long distance scene. His ever present beaming smile at the end of the race suggested he’ll be back in the future for more.
I can’t wait to see it.
Stephen Kilbey
