Triumphant Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes says the team will investigate the incident that left teammate Jamie Whincup’s title defence in tatters.

Whincup inexplicably ignored team orders to pit on Sunday, and was instead dropped from second to the back of the field for overtaking the safety car.

The six-time V8 Supercars champion finished in 18th spot, relegating him to eighth overall on the ladder with four rounds left in the season.

Lowndes, who along with co-driver Steven Richards took out his fourth win at Mount Panaroma, said the Red Bull team would discuss the incident at its debrief later this week.

“We’re pretty good at analysing ourselves and we’ll sit down and we’ll obviously make a point of it,” Lowndes said.

“Jamie may have an idea of why he did it, and of course we’ll have a look at that.

“And if it was a better idea than not coming in, then we’ll have to again assess that as well.”

Both drivers were instructed to pit following Ford driver Scott Pye’s crash midway through the race.

While Lowndes responded to the call, he was mystified as to why Whincup didn’t.

The 41-year-old said it was important they get to the bottom of the incident before their next event on the Gold Coast at the end of the month.

“Scotty Pye was in the fence and then I understood why we came in two laps early. I didn’t understand why Jamie didn’t follow us in,” he said.

“But look, we’ll analyse that this week and make sure that it doesn’t become a problem in the future and move on.

“We’ve got Gold Coast in two weeks time, so we’ve got to move forward now and keep pressing on.”

With just four rounds to go, Whincup now sits over 800 points behind championship leader Mark Winterbottom (2491).