Lowndes, Fraser feeling Dane effect

Craig Lowndes and Declan Fraser are both feeling the benefits of having Roland Dane running their Bathurst wildcard.

Dane will return to the Supercars paddock in an official guise at next month’s Repco Bathurst 1000.

The former Triple Eight head honcho is Team Manager of the Lowndes/Fraser wildcard entry.

Dane will be joined by daughter Jess in running the car, with Romy Mayer the race engineer.

Jamie Whincup took the reins of Triple Eight from Dane after the seven-time series champion retired last year.

Dane remains a constant presence with Triple Eight, and also led SunEnergy1 Racing’s victorious Bathurst 12 Hour bid in May.

The #888 wildcard completed its third and final test day at Queensland Raceway on Wednesday.

Lowndes, who is 26 years Fraser’s senior, will be making his 29th Bathurst start.

Super2 points leader Fraser, meanwhile, will be making his debut.

However, with the ever meticulous Dane overlooking the programme, both drivers are confident no stone will be left unturned.

"Roland is his usual self,” Lowndes said.

“Making sure we’re millimetre perfect, whether that’s us pulling up in the pit bay, or whether it’s the brake pad changes or our refuelling pit stops.

"It’s nice to have him at the helm - he knows what we need to do outside of the car and I know what to do inside of it.

“Hopefully we come away from today with all of the boxes ticked.”

Lowndes is adamant he and Fraser can challenge for a podium.

A wildcard has finished no better than 10th at Mount Panorama which, coincidentally, was a Triple Eight-run car.

Back in 2013, international stars Andy Priaulx and Mattias Ekstrom raced an XBOX One Commodore in the top 10.

While Lowndes is a Bathurst veteran, Fraser is still getting his head around various ways to make it work over 161 laps.

However, after three solid tests, the Queenslander believes he is ready to go.

"We’ve completed a lot of fuel-saving runs which is something I haven’t worked on before,” Fraser said.

"At the last two test days, we focused on our driver changes which was another new thing for me to learn.

“As we edge closer to Bathurst, the team decided that now was the right time to practice our fuel saving techniques and what it takes to make sure these cars last the distance.

"Craig and Romy have been super helpful, as well as RD.

"I’m so excited to finally get to Bathurst."

Cars will hit the track at Mount Panorama for Practice 1 on Thursday October 6.

Tickets for the Repco Bathurst 1000 are available on Supercars.com and Ticketek.