Lowndes Season highlights

The original word was that he was going to stay with Ford and had a handshake deal to go to FPR.  Now he's changed his views and apparently is signing up with HRT.  I suppose it's not called the silly season for nothing.

I've been there and done that myself, so I can't say I blame him.  He's naturally looking for the best opportunities for himself and his sponsors to win races next year and he feels he has to look outside his team because of the internal strife they've had this year.

There are a lot more manufacturer swaps among drivers these days and they will become more common as drivers look for the best opportunities and as more and more fans follow a driver or team, rather than a manufacturer.

The season couldn't have finished in more bizarre circumstances with the two red flags at Sandown in the second-last round and then the top five crashing out in similar circumstances in last Saturday's race.

Some people say that race should have been red flagged like the Sandown races and that might have yielded a completely different championship result.  But I think it was the right decision to allow the race to continue under a safety car and then re-start.

They managed to clear the circuit very quickly, the track wasn't blocked and there were no safety issues, so there was no need for a red flag.
The crashes happened because teams and drivers made the wrong decision on tyres. Bright and a few others made the right decision and they benefited, so good luck to them.

I had radioed my race engineer Jeromy (CORRECT) Moore and said we should get the wets ready but I didn't imagine it was that wet at the time.  The previous lap the track hadn't changed condition, but on the restart the rain had come down at that corner and it was like a river.

I nudged the wall but got around the corner without any major damage only to find James stopped right in front of me with no way to avoid him.  I aquaplaned right up the back of him but it didn't do as much damage to his car as mine because the back of these cars is basically cosmetic, not structural.

On Monday night we had our annual awards night in Sydney. It's the one time each year I actually get dressed up!  But it was quite strange this year for me because it was the first one I've been to without my wife, Nat. She's been recovering from an illness and couldn't make it.
It was still a great night and our engineers gave an inspiring speech when they accepted the best team award.

I've also thought about my own choices for awards.  Best and fairest driver award went naturally to James, but I would split the award into fairest which would probably be Frosty and best which would be my teammate Jamie just going by his race wins and pole positions.

We won the best team award and I think we deserved it from then number of wins, poles and enduro round victories.  Most improved driver and team award went to Paul Dumbrell and his team which is fair enough, but I'd also like to recognise Alex Davison, Tim Slade and Tony D'Alberto and their teams.

The best event award went to Townsville which I thought put on a great show. I think an award should also go for the best race and that should be the last race at the Gold Coast. The closing stages with Shane van Gisbergen chasing Jamie were incredibly exciting.

I'd also like to give a best track award to Abu Dhabi for the great facilities.  If I could give an award for best passing move it would be James's move on Jamie at Winton around the outside on turn two.

Biggest crash award would have to go to Fabian Coulthard for his massive roll at Bathurst. It was amazing to see him get out and walk away from that crash. It was a testament to the safety in our industry.  And finally I'd give an award to the stewards. Normally we bag them for being inconsistent but largely they did a pretty good job this year.

For me, it was one of my best years yet, despite finishing fourth in the championship.  I've achieved what I wanted to achieve this year winning both of the enduros and staying in championship contention for much of the season, while winning the Australasian Safari was an unexpected bonus.

I didn't expect to have an opportunity to race in the Safari, let alone win it.  For me the season has finished on a higher note than it began.

If you look back on the whole year, it shows I need to be more consistent at the beginning. There were no problems with the back half of the season, only some bad luck.  Also, there have been occasions where we could have finished the race with some points instead of not finishing at all. That certainly hurt my chances.

This is my last column after a very long and hectic year that started in February in the Mid East and finished just before Christmas in Sydney and included the Safari and the release of my first book.

So over the Christmas holidays I'm planning on doing absolutely nothing.  Basically I'm going to sit at home and spend some time with family and friends, especially Nat who I haven't been able to spend near as much time with over the past few months as I would have liked.

I hope all my fans also get to spend some valuable time these holidays with the people they love.