WINTON- V8 Supercar racing's latest innovation received a resounding thumbs-up from all concerned after Ford's Craig Lowndes swept two thrilling races at Winton Raceway this weekend.
A new high-speed, soft compound tyre used for the first time at Winton helped provide some of the most exciting racing seen in thechampionship's sprint races in years.
Exciting passing manoeuvres were frequent and teams were forced to mix up their strategies.
In the end, the benchmark Team Vodafone still came out on top, with Lowndes benefiting from near-perfect strategy in both races as to when and how best to use the soft tyres.
After swapping the lead with early pacesetter Paul Dumbrell's Holden mid-race, Lowndes took full control on lap 40 of Sunday's 66-lap race.
He went on to comfortably defeat Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom, with Holden's Garth Tander third.
Lowndes, Winterbottom and Tander led the chorus of approval for the soft tyres.
"To be able to put something on to a car to pull an extra two seconds a lap - we try to put a component in testing to try to find a tenth of a second," Lowndes said.
"It definitely threw a new mix into the racing. I loved driving on the thing - it gave you confidence that you could drive the car real hard and go for it."
The new tyres, which have a far shorter life than the usual racing tyres, also led to pit lane chaos as teams attempted, en masse, to change wheels under safety car conditions.
Among the biggest losers was championship leader Jamie Whincup, forced to wait for his pit stop alongside Lowndes in pit lane as both Team Vodafone cars were brought in together.
He lost several places in the shuffle-up and eventually finished 13th.
The two Team Vodafone cars also managed to trap Winterbottom in his pit bay, forcing him to nudge a tyre out of the way to exit.
That incident caused a heated exchange between Ford Performance Racing and Team Vodafone workers after all three cars had departed.
Stewards deemed no action would be taken.
The next event in the championship will be held in Symmons Plains, Tasmania, from May 29 to 31.
