Supercars star Chaz Mostert’s co-driver James Moffat has surrendered the lead at the halfway mark of the Bathurst 1000 after stalling in the pits.
Moffat was comfortably leading the field on Sunday when he pitted his Ford, but dropped back to third when he re-emerged on the track due to his garage gaffe on lap 81.
At the halfway mark of the 161-lap enduro, seven-time champion Lowndes – Jamie Whincup’s co-driver – leads Ford gun Scott McLaughlin’s co-driver Alex Premat by almost a second with Moffat third.
Supercars series leader McLaughlin appeared to be the man to beat after setting a remarkable lap record in Saturday’s qualifying.
And he looked on track to claim his maiden Bathurst title, kicking away from the field when the race began.
He quickly broke the race lap record with a time of two minutes, 05.45 seconds, eclipsing Holden star David Reynolds’ 2018 mark by a whopping 0.69 of a second.
But his co-driver Premat dropped from first to fourth during his stint after McLaughlin pitted following the 17th lap.
On lap 49, Premat was pressured by Mostert into a mistake, locking up at The Chase and damaging a front tyre to drop back in the field.
Holden’s Shane van Gisbergen is closing in despite losing positions on lap 43 when his door refused to close properly.
Van Gisbergen at one stage was forced to drive one-handed as he tried to jam the door closed.
Lowndes is the fan favourite to win after teaming up with seven-time series champion Whincup in his first race since retiring last year from full-time driving.
Lowndes, 45, has reunited with Whincup after their three-straight Great Races from 2006.
There was drama before the race with Holden wildcard Brodie Kostecki failing to complete the formation lap due to carbon dioxide poisoning from a driver cooling system failure, delaying the start of the Bathurst 1000 by 15 minutes.
The team received permission for his cousin Kurt Kostecki to drive but Brodie was later cleared by medical staff.
Fans didn’t have to wait long for the first safety car with Holden’s Tim Slade hitting the wall at the exit of The Cutting on the first lap after contact with fellow Holden driver Scott Pye.