Craig Lowndes hopes that a test day at Queensland Raceway next week will help turn the tide in Red Bull’s battle against V8 Supercars pace-setters Prodrive.

All teams except DJR Team Penske, which ran its single day in April, are expected to test in the break between the weekend’s Sydney Super Sprint and the September 11-13 Sandown 500.

While a pre-Sandown hit-out is traditionally a warm-up for co-drivers and endurance racing procedures, Lowndes says Red Bull’s focus will be very much on performance.

The 41-year-old endured a difficult weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park, picking up a fifth and two 10th place finishes from starting positions of fifth, 12th and 19th.

Lowndes slipped to third in the championship behind Chaz Mostert on Saturday and is now 255 points adrift of leader Mark Winterbottom.

While much of the championship discussion is now focussed on which Prodrive Ford will take the crown, Lowndes traditionally excels in the endurance events and has far from given up on the title.

The test day, he says, is of extra significance to the #888 side of the Red Bull garage following the pre-season engineering change that saw Grant McPherson join the team.

“We need a test day to do a lot of things that we’ve been wanting to do but haven’t been able to at the race weekends,” Lowndes told Speedcafe.com.

“When you’re behind the eight-ball a little bit it’s difficult because you’re playing catch-up with limited track time and tyres.

“We have tried some things during the race weekends but when you don’t have good tyres to practice with you don’t end up achieving anything.

“There’s a lot of things to test and re-test, things that we’ve done in the past that Shippy (McPherson) hasn’t been around for. We need to retrace a lot of our steps.

“Steve (Richards, co-driver) will still get a decent run, but there’s no doubt we’ll be putting a lot of emphasis on the performance side of it.”

Although Red Bull is currently building two new cars ahead of its expansion to run three entries next year, Lowndes says rushing fresh chassis onto the track isn’t a cure for the currently fluctuating form.

“I don’t think we’ll do it until next year,” he said of a new car.

“The car is working well in that every time we make adjustments, it works. It’s just a matter of finding the right set-ups.”

Lowndes’ championship position could yet change again before Sandown with Prodrive having protested his Race 23 result after the Red Bull driver made contact with Winterbottom during the race.

The incident saw contact between Lowndes and Andre Heimgartner slow the former through Turn 1, allowing Winterbottom to cut directly in front of the Holden into Turn 2.

Lowndes then tagged the back of Winterbottom when the Ford immediately braked for the upcoming left-hander, sending the latter wide, where he was collected by Heimgartner.

If the protest is upheld, Lowndes will likely receive a points penalty, which could drop him behind the third Prodrive Ford of David Reynolds.

“There was a lot going on,” recalled Lowndes of the incident, for which the protest will be heard at Sandown.

“The contact through Turn 1 with Heimgartner cascaded into that event (with Winterbottom).

“Bargs (Investigating Officer Jason Bargwanna) obviously didn’t think much of it but they (Prodrive) have decided to take it further, which is their right.

“We’ll have to wait and see what comes of it, but I’m not stressed or worried about it. We’ve just got to focus on the test and preparing for Sandown.”