Eastern Creek: Team Betta Sunday race report

INAUGURAL VICTORY FOR TEAM BETTA ELECTRICAL

Team Betta Electrical's Craig Lowndes has his taken his first V8 Supercar round win with his new team in sensational style after winning the second of two races at Eastern Creek Raceway today.

The Brisbane based team achieved three milestones this weekend securing a hat trick of poles, their first race win and an inaugural round victory.

After securing pole position on Saturday Lowndes got a fantastic start and led today's opening race until taking his compulsory pit stop on lap fourteen.

The Triple Eight Race Engineering team performed a very quick pit stop, changing two rear tyres and Lowndes exited pit lane neck and neck with Marcos Ambrose. The Team Betta Electrical driver found the new tyres unbalanced the car and he couldn't quite match the pace of Ambrose and had to settle for second place.

In race two Lowndes started off the front row of the grid but didn't get the start he was looking for and the team were forced to change their pit stop strategy bringing Lowndes in on lap five behind Ambrose.

Team Betta Electrical did a lightning quick stop and Lowndes got out on track just in front of Ambrose much to the delight of the very vocal 16,000 strong crowd.

Lowndes and his Triple Eight Race Engineering prepared Falcon BA showed sensational speed pulling away from the rest of the field on the restart of two safety car periods, taking his first race victory for Team Betta Electrical.

Lowndes said he was delighted with today's victory, his first since Phillip Island in 2003.

"It is a sensational feeling to finish the weekend off the way we started," Lowndes said "We haven't been able to do that in the last two rounds.

"After the pit stop in race one the car became a little unbalanced and I wasn't able to get passed Marcos but the team improved the car between the two races and it was fantastic in race two.

"What a great feeling to be able to drive away from the field on the restarts, this is something we have been working on as a team," he said.

"I am looking forward to China no one has any previous data so it will be down to drivers working closely with their teams and the best team driver combination will shine.

"Eight is considered the luckiest number in Asia so I guess that will make me three times as lucky," Lowndes added.

Lowndes team mate Steve Ellery had a day great first race finishing an impressive eighth after taking advantage of breaks in the traffic to move up the grid.

Prior to the start of race two Ellery's Falcon BA had a small fire in the airbox that required further attention on the grid. The Team Betta Electrical crew fixed the problem but Ellery jumped the start and was awarded a drive through penalty on the opening lap.

On lap ten of the race Ellery's front spitter failed and he was forced to return to the pits for repairs.

Ellery said despite the problems he had in race two he was happy to finish both races today.

"I was really happy with our first race result today." Ellery said.

"We had a few problems in the second race but it was really important I get back out there and collect some points.

"Being two laps down I was a little bit lonely not having anyone to race but it did enable me to try some new things with the car," Ellery said.

Team Principal of Team Betta Electrical Roland Dane said real team effort was the key to achieving three milestones today.

"Today was a real team effort," Dane said. "Craig did a brilliant job on the track, the team did a fantastic job in the pits and the car was superb.

"It was great to beat everyone fair and square the whole thing really came together today.

"A big thanks must go to the guys at Stone Brothers Race Engineering for their input but overall this was a brilliant team victory.

"This is the end of the beginning," Dane added.

-tbe