The Supercars legend was teamed up with Dale Moscatt in a factory-run Chevrolet Silverado in the Production 4WD class for the famous event.

It was the first attempt at Finke for both Lowndes, the Silverado and much of the team, making it a daunting task.

Despite that, and guided by the experienced Moscatt, Lowndes enjoyed a successful start, out-pacing class rivals Ford Performance rivals Brad and Byam Lovell in the prologue on Saturday.

The Ford Ranger Raptor proved faster out on the stage, but was hampered by technical issues on the run to Aputula yesterday which left Lowndes with a four-minute overnight lead.

He was still in the lead today when the Silverado faced technical issues of its own, retiring 39 kilometres in after a front suspension failure.

That handed class honours to Ford, Lowndes gracious in defeat.

First of all I’d like to congratulate the Lovells and the Ford team on their class win today,” he said. “Dale and I have thoroughly enjoyed the battle with [them] here at Finke.

“The Silverado was tough all weekend, from taking out prologue and line honours to Day 1, but unfortunately we were beaten by the desert today.

“I can’t say a big enough thanks to the GM team here on the ground and back at base who’ve worked so hard on this programme over the last two years. Also a big thanks to Mike Henry and the team at Rampex for their technical and race support.”