THEY began the month being cheered by a vocal crowd at Mount Panorama as the Bathurst 1000 champions and now Craig Lowndes and Steve Richards will finish it with another trophy – the Enduro Cup.
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On Sunday after the final race of the Gold Coast 600 was cancelled due to heavy rain, it was Lowndes and Richards who had amassed the most points across the Supercars’ three-round endurance season.
The Autobarn Racing duo had place third at Sandown, triumphed together in the Bathurst 1000 and ran third in the first of two scheduled races for the Gold Coast.
It meant they had to finish 14th or higher in the final race on the Gold Coast, but the deluge meant they did not have to worry about that.
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The race was red flagged at lap 37 and while drivers returned to the the track for five laps behind the safety car, conditions were too dangerous to re-start.
The race was red flagged once more then ultimately cancelled.
Given this year is Lowndes’ last as a full-time driver and therefore final enduro campaign with Richards, he was delighted to finish on such a high note.
“We came into today knowing what we needed to do to win the Enduro Cup, but the heavens opened,” Lowndes said.
“Richo did a magnificent job, I'm really proud of him. To cap off the five years we’ve been together with this win, it's a real treat.
“They definitely made the right call with the weather. I couldn't believe we were still circulating out there with the conditions as they were. I believe there was no way they could restart the race.
“It was really dangerous, they would have hurt someone and destroyed cars. The right choice was finally made.”
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Lowndes and Richards are the first pairing to win both the Bathurst 1000 and Enduro Cup in the same year since the cup’s inception in 2013.
While Lowndes had previously won the Enduro Cup in 2013, this year’s success was a first for Richards.
“From my perspective as a co-driver, the Enduro Cup is one of the boxes I always wanted to tick,” Richards said.
“It’s unbelievable! We've had some pretty good luck this weekend and this takes the cake. The weather might have not saved our bacon, but it definitely helped having the race stopped. We've had so many highs, then we almost had a bit of a low with everything going on in this race, but it's worked out fantastic.
“Craig and I have had five great years together, we go and have a good time when we're doing this, as well as taking it very seriously.”
Having placed third together at Mount Panorama, the Shell V-Power Racing combination of Scott McLaughlin and Alex Premat ended up second in the Enduro Cup.
Third belonged to Red Bull’s Shane van Gisbergen and Earl Bamber.