Craig Lowndes won the 2018 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and later retired from fulltime racing that same year. Video / Fox Sport
Seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes has spoken publicly about a three-year online relationship with a woman he never met.
As reported by The Daily Telegraph, Lowndes' wife Lara kicked the 47-year-old out of their home after discovering their flirtatious Instagram messages.
Lowndes and his wife claim to have been"tormented" by the unidentified individual since the V8 racing icon ended the online relationship in April.
The woman has allegedly created multiple online accounts and sent abusive messages to Lara Lowndes.
"I'm ashamed to be talking to you about this, it's very sensitive to myself and Lara," Lowndes told The Daily Telegraph.
"Basically, I was in a bad place, but I'm not in that place any more. I'm getting help. It is what it is, but I can honestly say Lara knows all about this and this third person is no longer in my life.
"Lara and I still live together, we had some time apart, but now we are committed to working through it all.
"Social media is an evil thing at times, it can be very beneficial, but it can also be very evil … we don't even know this isn't a catfish."
NewsCorp also published a series of cringey screenshots from Lowndes' social media conversations with the third party.
Lowndes messaged: "I would rather be with you … I'd love to sit opposite you and look into your eyes and soul."
She replied: "Wow that's deep."
Craig Lowndes exchanged messages with a woman he never met during a three-year virtual romance. Photo / Supplied via news.com.au
He responded: "So is my love for you baby. I want to start to show that side of me … I want you to know how much I love you."
Images of Lara Lowndes with a bruised face appeared online earlier this year, but she insisted her husband has never been violent towards her.
Lowndes and his wife have been married since 2015. The Victorian driver has two children from a previous marriage.
The three-time Supercars champion won the prestigious Barry Sheen Medal five times during a stellar career in professional racing.
He received the Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2012 and was inducted into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2019.
