Luff could be key to Lowndes win

His co-driver, Warren Luff, has lapped Queensland Raceway in testing within just 0.1seconds of Lowndes.

"He's a great universal driver and I'm glad he's sharing with me," said Lowndes at a recent test day on the Ipswich circuit.

Luff finished last in the V8 Supercars series in the past two seasons and is without a full-time drive this year, but was snapped up by TeamVodafone principal Roland Dane to replace Mark Skaife as Lowndes's co-driver for the endurance rounds at Sandown and Bathurst.

"My lap times have been quite good, but it's an easy car to drive so you don't have to overdrive the car to be quick," says Luff who is also a driver training instructor and stunt car performer at Movieworld.

While he has only scored one podium in 59 V8 Supercars races, he has been in demand as a Bathurst co-driver, having paired with former champions Marcos Ambrose and James Courtney with whom he finished fourth in the 2010 event.

"I've been lucky to score co-drives with three of the best drivers in the past decade and there is none better at the moment than Craig who is the Bathurst king," he said.

"He's also a great guy, good fun and very helpful."

The two have partnered for Audi in endurance races and hope to return to the notorious Nurburgring later this year to qualify for the famous Le Mans 24-hour race next year.

"Once you get in that Audi racing fraternity they do so much racing there are a lot of opportunities," he said.

"Le Mans is one of the races on my bucket list along with Daytona.

"But top of my wish list is a win at Bathurst and this year is looking good.I'm not disappointed about not having a full-time drive in the series.

"I would rather just do two races a year with TeamVodafone and have a chance of winning than just running at the back of the field filling up the grid."

Lowndes's race engineer, Jeromy Moore, says Luff has big shoes to fill, stepping in after Skaife.

"He doesn't give as much feedback on car set-up as Skaife, but he's been doing consistently quick lap times in practice and has been an easy fit into the team," he said.