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From HRT's success in 1996, team mate Greg Murphy was appointed to race in the Touring Car Champoinship, in Craigs absence.
Formula 3000 didn't start off too well for Craig and his team with numorous trys to win or gain a top 3 placing was unsuccessful, so in need of more sponsors Craig returned to Australia. He joined HRT team mate Greg murphy once again to race in the 1997 Tickford Sandown 500 enduro race. Once again it happened.... Lowndes and Murphy managed to pull off their second Sandown 500 win in a row.

THE CRAIG LOWNDES STORY SO FAR..........

Craig Lowndes hit the world of Australian Touring Cars in 1994. Starting off with Mini Bikes at the age of 8 and then at 10 Karts, Lowndes Success in number 49 was fantastic, and soon became The Champion of Champions.
As soon as he was 16 he graduated into Formula Fords, This lead to winning the 1993 Formula Ford Championship.
At about this time HRT manager Geoff Gretch had his eye on Craig. He was fast around the track and would be perfrect to be the next Holden Racing Team Champion. The next question was, He's fast, but can he win a race?. So Lowndes was put to the test at his first Bathurst 1000 in 1994 and managed to come second with team mate Brad Jones. He gained the name "The Kid", after racing in the Bathurst 1000 in 1995. Craig was the youngest to drive and win a V8 Touring Car race at the age of 20-21 in Touring Car history.

After a number of Training lessons, with the king of the mountain... Brocky, Craig knew what he had to do and what he wanted.
So he entered the 1996 SATCC and took every one by storm by winning the Championship and this was definately not the end of the Phenonom and sucess. Partnering up with his team mate New Zealander Greg Murphy they won the 1996 Sandown 500. Soon enough the Bathurst 1000 arrived so.........Lowndes and Murphy decided to give it another go to see how far their luck would go and sure enough, zooming past the rest of the field, Lowndes and Murphy won the 1996 Bathurst 1000. With Craig winning the Triple Crown, 1996 was declaired as a Phenonom.
Lowndes then signed a deal to race Formula 3000's in Europe for 1997.

Bathurst 1000 soon returned, HRT in hopes of winning Bathurst once again.
Once the lights turned green the annual first corner Carnage occured along with many other crashes and smashes along the way. Once the lead was gained by the HRT duo, their hopes of winning again were shattered after a crash at Forrest Elbow.
Early 1997 (17th Jan to be exact) wedding bells rang as Craig and Natalie got married.
In 1998 Craig took position as lead driver of HRT and with his amazing racing talents, he managed to pull of an amazing number of 1st places and hat trick of wins. Once again doing what craig did best, won the 1998 SATCC. This meaning he had won 2 of the 2 Championships he had entered.

After winning his second Championship title, Lowndes teamed up with new
co-driver Mark Skaife, to compeate in the 1998 Sandown 500. Clear blue skys, hot weather and not a dark cloud in sight, were good signs, and starting on Pole position on the grid was an even better sign.

Soon rain poured all over the Sandown Circuit and continued to do so for the rest of the day. Lowndes and Skaife were overtaken by Larry Perkins and Russell Ingall, leaving Lowndes and Skaife to finish second overall.
Bathurst trotted along again. A blown tyre thought to be caused by the weather landed a spot in the sand traps for the HRT car and had to be towed back to the pits by a trusty tractor. The HRT car resumed the race on the track and tried to fight back their well deserved first position. Although their end result was not what they would have liked it to have been, Mark and Craig finished overall in 6th position.

March the 7th Albert Park hosted the Australian Grand Prix featuring the Thundering V8 Supercars. Although the 4 races contended were not for any points or competition, the HRT cars casually cruised along, round the track beating the new Ford AU's with a 1-2 finish in every race.
A change of numbers for HRT were decided with Craig using his well deserved Champions number 1 and Mark Skaife with number 2 instead of 50.
For the first time this year the Adelaide 500 was introduced, held at the Adelaide GP circuit. Day 1 had the first 75 laps of the race, with Craig winning the first race, gaining 100 points to his SATCC score. Unfortunately Craig was Disqualified for hitting another driver and lost all of his points gained that day. But that didn't stop Craig from making his way from last on the grid to first in just 37 laps in the second race, making him win the day overall.

I5 consistantly won races in a row has made HRT the team to beat in the 1999 SATCC.
A horrific crash, thought to be one of the worst crashes in touring car history, happened to Craig, but thanx to the well built VT Commodore and the assistance of his fellow compeditors and friends Craig surrived with only torn ligaments to his left knee and a bruised elbow. Of course this isn't going to stop Craig from doing what he does best........... WINNING!!!

With only missing one round, due to injuries, Craig was back at winton better than ever racing his 1996 VS Commodore- "Supercar", With no signs of any confidence loss at all!
Round 12 at Queensland Raceway saw two new recruits to the Holden RacingTeam - Paul Morris and Cameron McConville. With Lowndes and McConville paired up together, they pulled off 3rd place on the newly designed circuit. This helped Craig in the points chase by leaving him narrowly in the lead, in the line up to the Big Mecca - Bathurst!
The big race - Bathurst arrived on the 11th to the 14th of November 99. Lowndes once again paired up with Cam McConville in the number 1 VT Commodore. With Mark Skaifes and Paull Morris's main aims were to win the Bathurst title, Craig was out to win his 3rd Championship
With fantastic pit stops, crew and EXCELLENT driving HRT pulled off 2 spots in the top 5 positions - 2nd and 3rd!. Lowndes won his 3rd championship out of 3 AND remained the Championship King! Maybe it can be made 4 after next year!
Fans and Supporters got a scare after Bathurst with Craig maybe opting for a season of Indy Lights in America. I thought i was going to loose my Hero and Idol again! (like 97) but given the end of November Craig opted to stay and race in another SATCC season. This decision putting a huge smile back on most Lowndes and HRT supporters. :)
After a fantastic 1999 season with it's highs, lows, scares, excitement and tears(from the fans anyway) I wish Craig & The Holden Racing Team the best of luck for the new millenium.
2000 - for "The Millenium" HRT opted for a brand new war paint design going with an all red car. This made the fantastic Red Army (as they were nicknamed) stand out amoung the rest of the pack.
Round 1 - Phillip Island , was wet, rainy, and freezing cold and with a changed race format, it was bound to be packed full of action. Gone were the 3 sprint races and in came the two longer races that went over the two days. It looked set to be an all round Craig Lowndes win with Craig topping practice, qualifying and race 1, but day two and the second race didn't bring much luck Craigs way. with a supposed engine/radiator failure he was forced to retire.
Lowndes was back to his old ways in Round two at Wannaroo Raceway taking a clean sweep in all 3 races.......and also winning the round all up. This added to his unbeatable record of 3 out of 3 successfull round wins at Wanaroo. This lunched Craig from 7th on the points table up to 3rd.
Lowndes went out to win the first leg of the Adelaide 500, with Skaife doing exactly what Craig did in 99 comming from last to first and winning the second race and round overall.
It was soon enough Eastern Creek's turn at the racing glory. Craig finished the round in 6th place. Unfortunately he was penalised 15 championship points for hitting DJR's #18 car. After the penalisation Craig finished the round in 10th place and was moved back to a dissapointing 5th on the championship ladder. Hidden Valley didn't bring much luck either, although he qualified on pole, Craig had dissapointing results in the 2nd race and ended up DNF-ing the third. This let him finish 15th on the day and once again get pushed back down the points ladder to 6th place.
New race tracks mean ALOT of carnage and changed race formats mean alot of action............This was exactly what the Canberra GMC 500 brought to us. A 25 lap(100k) sprint race on the Saturday, a second 25 lap sprint with reverse grid on the Sunday morning, Followed by a longer 50 lap(200k) finale to finish off the weekend. Lowndes gained a 5th place in the top 15 shoot out, finished 13th in the first sprint, 10th in the second sprint and won the longer finale race, making him 2nd on the podium just behind K-Mart Racing's Steven Richards. This brought Craig back into champonship contention.......4th place on the championship lader. :)
Doing what Lowndes does best, he qualified on pole....once again....and took out a clean sweep of all 3 races at Queensland Raceway winning the round all up!
Most rounds after Round 7 didn't bring much joy or luck to the 3 time SATCC winner, finishing overall 6th at Winton, 7th overall at Oran Park, Craig managed to gain Pole position at Calder Park, but finished in a dissapointing 6th. Surely it was time for another winning streak.......well close to it. Lowndes & Skiafe teamed up for the QLD 500, Skaife qualifying the car 5th in the Top 10 shootout, and Then both finishing in a fantastic First place. Round 12 at Sandown international raceway saw Craig Lowndes starting on the grid on Pole position again, and finishing the day overall in 4th place.
Round 13 saw every man and his dog travel up to Mt Panorama, Bathurst for the Battle between Fords and Holdens, eager to see who would be this years Kings of the mountains. Mark Skaife Qualified the car in the top 10 shootout and started from 3rd on the grid. Bathurst brought the end to many drivers hopes and dreams of winning in the year 2000, it came close to ending for car #1, but Lowndes and Skaife held on to take home a 6th postion, with Gath Tander & Jason Bargwanna winning this year Crown.
Craig didn't manage to bring home his 4th championship in a row..........Many fans and supporters blame this on his unfair treatment, car setup changes, setups and favoring over another co-driver at HRT.......... but "The Kid" will always remain a champion in his most loyal fans hearts.
Year 2001 dawned and so did Craig Lowndes's decision to leave The Holden Racing Team. It is currently unknown where this champion will race in 2001, many say it is going to be in a Ford, and some say he will stay with the mighty Holden. Craigs contract with The Holden Racing Team ends on 12 AM on the 1/1/01 after that he is a free driver. THE ANNOUNCEMENT HAS BEEN MADE! Craig Lowndes has announced on Thursday 4th of January that he has signed with Fred Gibson to drive in a one car ford outfit for at least the next 5 years. Many fans will be dissapointed in his decision but I will wish him all the luck in the world for 2001

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