{"id":793050,"date":"2026-07-11T07:26:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/793050\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T07:26:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:26:23","slug":"craig-lowndes-lands-left-field-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/793050\/","title":{"rendered":"Craig Lowndes lands left-field drive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2026-Supercheap-Auto-Wildcard-Launch-2026-Supercheap-Auto-Wildcard-Launch-Z81_1990.jpg\" alt=\"Craig Lowndes lands left-field drive\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCraig Lowndes is expanding his off-road racing career. Image: Richard Gresham<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/t.cfjump.com\/92797\/b\/204801\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/204801.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The deal marks a continuation of the Supercars legend\u2019s journey in off-road racing following his <a href=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.com\/motorsport-news-2026-finke-desert-race-craig-lowndes-supercheap-auto-chevrolet-production-4wd-class-win-results-comments-reaction\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">class win for Chevrolet at the Finke Desert Race last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This time he will make his first non-Finke start in the Australian Off-Road Championship in the side-by-side category.<\/p>\n<p>He will team up with Finke-winning navigator Dale Moscatt in a Can-Am owned by Tony and Jodie Whateley, who also own the Loveday Adventure Park where the iconic event is held.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a fantastic win at Finke and I\u2019m really enjoying this off-road caper,\u201d said Lowndes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m incredibly grateful to Tony and Jodie for giving Dale and I the opportunity to jump straight into their Can-Am Maverick R for the next round of the AORC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re very mindful that it\u2019s Tony\u2019s own race vehicle, but he\u2019s a racer through and through so he wants us to enjoy ourselves, put on a show for the fans and see what we can achieve.<\/p>\n<p>    Tickets for the 2026 NTI Townsville 500 are on sale now. Secure your spot today.<br \/>\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/ticketekau.pxf.io\/5kYxq9\" style=\"color:#de482e;\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Buy tickets<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cLoveday has been a fantastic venue for us each time we\u2019ve tested there and I\u2019m sure it\u2019s going to be an exciting challenge to race there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Maverick R is an incredible machine. I had the opportunity to ride with Jodie at Loveday a few months ago and was blown away by the capability of the car.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt responds brilliantly to driver inputs and handles the bumps and whoops exceptionally well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ll take a measured approach early on, but from everything I\u2019ve seen and heard this platform gives me confidence we\u2019re going to have a lot of fun at Loveday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery event teaches me something new, and Dale and I are looking forward to seeing what we can achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1037215\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Loveday-CanAm-pic.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Moscatt, an accomplished co-driver in both the rally and off-road worlds, has been impressed with Lowndes\u2019 ability to adapt to an entirely new discipline.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinke was an outstanding result and a reward for the hard work put in by the entire team,\u201d said Moscatt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCraig has adapted incredibly well to the unique demands of off-road racing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very different to circuit racing because communication between driver and navigator is critical. We\u2019ve spent a lot of time refining our pace notes and our in-car communication during both reconnaissance and race conditions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe pace notes are definitely helping accelerate Craig\u2019s development in this discipline and he\u2019s doing an awesome job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Loveday 400 takes place on July 23-26.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1032706\" src=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-Supercheap-Auto-Racing-Silverado-Launch-4_.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>The Supercheap Auto Racing Chevrolet Silverado ZR2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Craig Lowndes is expanding his off-road racing career. Image: Richard Gresham The deal marks a continuation of the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,13992,806,805,803,804,6490,85],"class_list":["post-793050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-craig-lowndes","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-slot3","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}