V8 veteran Craig Lowndes is poised to achieve a historic century of race wins after sweeping the opening races of the Tasmania SuperSprint on Saturday.
Lowndes, 40, dominated both 25-lap, 60-kilometre sprints at Symmons Plains Raceway, near Launceston, racing away from pole position to score unchallenged victories that extended his touring car career tally to 99 wins.
He became the most successful driver in Australian touring car championship/V8 Supercars history last year, passing former arch-rival Mark Skaife's record of 90 wins to reach 97 by the end of his 18th season.
Lowndes, the second oldest driver in the youth-laden V8 field, remains the most popular competitor by far despite his lack of championship success in recent years, failing to add a title since he won his third crown in 1999.
While he was uncatchable in Saturday's pair of short races in his Triple Eight Holden Commodore, he will find it more difficult to notch up a landmark 100th victory in Sunday's 84-lap, 200km event, which will include pit stops and compulsory use of a set of soft-compound tyres in addition to the normal hard-wearing standard rubber. He easily beat Ford's Mark Winterbottom in the opening sprint and had no trouble holding off his teammate Jamie Whincup in the second race.
James Courtney was third in both races in his HRT Commodore to extend his early advantage in the championship. Courtney has 386points after five races, with Lowndes' double victory lifting him to second in the standings, 28points behind.
Courtney was at the centre of a controversial incident in the opening race, running into the back of Will Davison's fast-starting Mercedes AMG as the leaders piled into the Symmons Plains track's notorious hairpin corner.
Davison angrily remonstrated with Courtney after the race, accusing him of deliberately pushing his car sideways.
Courtney claimed he was bumped into Davison by a hit from behind by the Falcon of Chaz Mostert and race officials later cleared him, declaring the collision a racing incident.
But on Saturday evening, Davison's Erebus Motorsport team lodged a protest against the decision, disputing that Courtney's action was not deliberate. The protest will be heard by race stewards on Sunday morning.
