Craig Lowndes’ position as the ‘people’s champion’ of V8 Supercars has been underlined by an overwhelming Pirtek Poll result in the lead-up to the title deciding Sydney 500.
In response to the question “Who is your favourite V8 Supercars driver?” the Red Bull Racing Australia star commanded over 23 percent of more than 16,000 votes cast.
Lowndes is a heavy favourite to take out V8 Supercars’ inaugural fan voted Most Popular Driver Award at next week’s post-season gala.
Like that of his mentor Peter Brock, Lowndes’ popularity with the public has endured multiple moves across the manufacturer divide; the most recent of which came in 2010.
The ever-smiling 39-year-old is this weekend gunning for his fourth V8 Supercars title and his first in 14 years.
He enters the weekend 20 points adrift of team-mate Jamie Whincup, who is shooting for his fifth championship in just six years.
Whincup finished just eighth in the Pirtek Poll, scoring less than 15 percent of Lowndes’ total.
Ford Performance Racing star Mark Winterbottom’s place as the front-man of Ford’s campaign was solidified by a runner-up result in the Poll, albeit with just half of Lowndes’ total.
Winterbottom took a maiden Bathurst 1000 victory in October and remains with an outside chance of a first title in Sydney.
The Sydney native’s management has worked hard on his image in recent years, taking out a ‘Sports Dad of the Year Award’ in addition to aligning him with family brands such as Disney and Target.
As with many online polls, social media activation appeared to play a significant role in several of the placings.
Affable German Maro Engel campaigned strongly via Facebook and Twitter and ended up edging Erebus team-mate Lee Holdsworth for third place.
The result comes just days after Erebus confirmed that, despite having signed a two-year deal with the former DTM driver, it will have no place for him in a reduced two-car line-up for 2014.
Nissan’s Rick Kelly completed the top five, narrowly holding out soon-to-be Pepsi FPR driver Chaz Mostert.
The 21-year-old did not even have a drive when the season began, but has since endeared himself to Blue Oval supporters with impressive speed and a breakthrough victory for Dick Johnson Racing in August.
Class clown David Reynolds, Whincup, the Holden Racing Team’s James Courtney and soon-to-be Volvo driver Scott McLaughlin completed the top 10.
Front-runner Will Davison finished just 14th ahead of his switch to Erebus in 2014.
Another set to switch manufacturers next season, Tim Slade, also polled poorly, finishing 23rd.
The four at the bottom of the order – Alexandre Premat, Tony D’Alberto, Alex Davison and Jonathon Webb – all have unconfirmed futures beyond the end of the season.
CLICK HERE to vote on this week’s new Pirtek Poll, which asks: Which Walkinshaw driver will be the highest placed in the 2014 V8 Supercars Championship standings?
