The dust might still be settling on another frustrating V8 Supercars season for Craig Lowndes but the veteran has already landed a telling blow on his 2014 rivals.

In a major coup for the three-time touring car champion, Lowndes’ Red Bull Racing team has snapped up reigning Bathurst 1000 champion Steven Richards as his enduro co-driver for the next two years.

Lowndes, 39, led Jamie Whincup by six points in the 2013 championship before the second last round on Phillip Island, only to finish the season 128 points behind his Holden teammate.

It marked the fifth time Lowndes finished second overall, including the past three years to Whincup.

However, Lowndes appears to have already managed to get the jump on five-time touring car champ Whincup, with Red Bull Racing snaffled up Richards from under the nose of Ford’s Mark Winterbottom.

Richards and Winterbottom this year famously combined to hold out Whincup and Lowndes and claim Ford’s first Bathurst 1000 win since 2008 and the factory-backed Ford Performance Racing’s maiden victory on the mountain.

It was another blow to the championship hopes of Lowndes who won his last title in 1999.

But it appears perennial bridesmaid Lowndes does not want to die wondering next year after replacing Warren Luff with Richards for the crucial enduro rounds from 2014-15.

Red Bull Racing boss Roland Dane admitted their poaching of Richards would only intensify the Ford-Holden rivalry next year.

“Clearly, we want to win Bathurst,” Dane told the v8supercars website when asked about Richards’ signing.

“We’ve won it five times in 10 years and we want to carry on being in a position … to do well there every time.

“There’s certainly a very intense rivalry between the teams, but there always has been.

“It’s been going on for 10 years so there’s nothing new there.

“We’re meant to be rivals. We’re not all meant to be mates.”

Richards was excited by the idea of linking with Lowndes who notched a record 94th Australian touring car race win this season.

“It’ll be fantastic partnering Craig, one of the strongest endurance drivers in Australian touring car history,” he said.

Paul Dumbrell will again partner Whincup in the enduros.