Lowndes will be taking notes from a distance at Bathurst 500

Lowndes will be on commentary duty for the Bathurst 500 this weekend during some rare time away from the driver's seat, though he'll still be taking notes for his upcoming wildcard drive for this October's main event.

After a solid showing at Sunday's Bathurst 12 Hour, where he, Thomas Randle and Cam Waters finished seventh, Lowndes is looking forward to taking in more motorsport action at the nation's premier circuit.

"Last time we had a sprint race here was '96, which I was a part of. We know Bathurst as an endurance race, so to have a 500 here is a little bit different," Lowndes said.

"It'll shift the mentality of drivers and teams a little bit too because when we come to Bathurst we're normally talking about 161 laps. Now it's a sprint so it should be pretty intense.

"When you've got two drivers as well you often have to compromise on setup because you've got to have both drivers fast. You can be more selfish this weekend because you've got the primary drivers just focusing on speed.

"It'll be really interesting to see how it all unfolds because we haven't really got a form guide. There's been a lot of changes with drivers and teams, and with the hard tyre on this long circuit it should be intense."

Though he won't be up close and personal with the machinery this weekend Lowndes will be paying close attention to how the cars perform.

He has another Bathurst 1000 wildcard entry drive lined up later in the year alongside last year's fourth place finisher in the Super2 Series, Cooper Murray.

"The learnings from this weekend will be very interesting come later in the year. The car are obviously being up-spec'd since last year as well, with the aero testing," he said.

"That's something that teams will need to get their heads around quickly, especially with this circuit being a high, fast and natural flowing style of track."

Last Sunday Lowndes contested the Bathurst 12 Hour with Scott Taylor Motorsport for the fourth year running.

The two-time 12 Hour winner was content with the seventh place result considering that the team struggled to match their pace with the front-running entries.

"We're really pleased because, to be honest, the car speed just wasn't there for us," Lowndes said.

"We struggled all weekend with straight line speed. We were down around six kilometres an hour on the other Mercedes. We're scratching our heads and still trying to figure out what it was.

"In the end, to have a seventh place finish was really good. Cam did a great job to bring the car home in those conditions, as did Thomas.

"Thomas actually said to me before he got into his stint that he'd never driven one of these cars in the wet before so he did an amazing job.

"Right at the end of my stint it started to rain so it actually came at a good time. It wasn't halfway through a stint that the rain came, so by the time it did arrive I was done."

This year's 12 Hour featured 30 cars, with Porsche, Audi, Mecedes and BMW making up the pro class entries.

With the potential additional of Aston Martin and Mustang in 2025, and the hopeful return of Ferrari (with whom Lowndes claimed both of his 12 Hour victories), Lowndes said there's plenty to be excited about for the event's future.

"We've been lucky enough to win it twice and we're starting to get back to the pre-covid era where we're starting to get international drivers and teams coming to race," he said.

"Having Valentino Rossi back for the second year in a row speaks volumes to what the Europeans and international teams think of this track."