Lowndes lands sponsor for 2016 V8s

The V8 Supercars future of Bathurst champion Craig Lowndes has been secured with fuel giant Caltex to sponsor his Holden Commodore in 2016.

Craig Lowndes.

Fuel giant Caltex has agreed to sponsor Holden driver Craig Lowndes' V8 Supercars drive in 2016. (AAP)

Bathurst champion Craig Lowndes will keep racing in 2016 after his V8 Supercars team secured a lucrative sponsorship deal for his Holden.

The six-time Bathurst winner, fresh from his success with co-driver Steven Richards at Mount Panorama earlier this month, will drive a Caltex-backed Commodore next year.

The creation of the TeamVortex-branded car solves a sponsorship puzzle for the expanded Triple Eight Race Engineering stable.

New Zealand driver Shane Van Gisbergen will join Lowndes and Jamie Whincup at the powerful team next year.

But Van Gisbergen's impending arrival created a headache with the younger Kiwi to drive a Red Bull Racing Commodore along with Whincup.

That left Triple Eight scrambling to secure a sponsor for 41-year-old Lowndes with reportedly $3.5 million in sponsorship needed to fund a third car for the 2016 campaign.

A long-time Caltex ambassador, Lowndes was hopeful the expansion will have little impact on the team's dominance of the championship in the past 10 years.

"It's really an extension of Triple Eight Race Engineering," Lowndes said.

"To expand to three cars now is really exciting."

The partnership with Caltex is for at least two years and Lowndes will retain the 888 car number he has run for over a decade.


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world