Lowndes, Luff in heavy crash at Bathurst

V8 Supercars veteran Craig Lowndes and rival Holden co-driver Warren Luff have escaped injury after a heavy crash during practice for Sunday’s Bathurst 1000.

The brakes on Luff’s No.2 Holden Racing Team Commodore appeared to fail as he entered turn two on the Mount Panorama circuit in Saturday morning’s session – throwing the car sideways, into the tyre barrier and onto its roof.

Luff clipped Lowndes’ Red Bull Racing Commodore on the way, sending the veteran into the concrete wall and destroying the rear of the car.

Lowndes emerged unscathed and immediately ran over to Luff to help him out of the wreckage, before the pair embraced on track.

“I’m fine, just obviously very disappointed for the team and obviously for Craig and those guys up the road,” Luff said after the incident.

“Big thanks to Craig for helping me get out of the car, that was great.”

Luff said he floored his brake pedal heading into the corner, but the car wouldn’t stop.

“Something happened,” he added.

“I’m not 100 per cent sure what, obviously the guys need to ascertain what’s gone wrong.”

Lowndes and Luff were co-drivers at Red Bull last year, winning the Enduro Cup with podium finishes at Sandown, Bathurst and Gold Coast.

Luff was later dropped by the team to make way for Steven Richards – who won the 2013 1000km classic with Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom.

Luff is this weekend driving with Garth Tander, who also smashed the car during practice on Thursday.

The two Commodores had been among the frontrunners to take out the Great Race and were due to fight for pole position in Saturday afternoon’s Top 10 shootout.

But the significant damage to both is likely to keep them out of contention.

“I’m just gutted for the whole team,” Luff said.

“It’s been a big week. Obviously we did some repairs the other night after what happened to Garth on Thursday.

“I just feel really bad for the guys. Hopefully they can get it back together and we can still be on the grid come tomorrow.”

The frighteningly fast mountain claimed two other victims during qualifying on Friday, with championship leader Jamie Whincup and FPR’s David Reynolds both crashing.

Winterbottom was quickest in Saturday’s sole practice session, followed by Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen of Holden. Whincup was 19th.

The top 10 grid positions will be determined from 5.10pm (AEDT).

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