The trademark grin was nowhere to be seen when Supercars great Craig Lowndes was left fuming over a pit-stop bingle in his penultimate race as a full-time driver.
The ever smiling Lowndes left it until the final round of his 22-year full-time career to show he was human after all, shocking many with his foul-mouthed reaction to a pit-lane clash with Holden’s Scott Pye in Newcastle on Saturday.
Lowndes tangled with Pye when they were caught in the pit-lane chaos that ensued following a safety car midway through the Newcastle 500’s opening 250km race.
The contact damaged three-time series champion Lowndes’ steering but worse was to come when he finally got to the team garage.
Remarkably, Ford’s Mark Winterbottom hit a tyre that was about to be fitted to Lowndes’ Commodore and dragged it down pit-lane amid the frenetic safety car scramble.
After that it was no more Mr Nice Guy for Lowndes, who was shown by TV cameras screaming expletives and punching his steering wheel in frustration before storming into the garage.
The seven-time Bathurst 1000 champ eventually recovered to get back on the track but finished last, seven laps behind winner Shane van Gisbergen.
Lowndes later tried to see the funny side after failing to finish either race at Newcastle’s maiden round in 2017.
“We take a lot of positives out of today – we’ve finished a race in Newcastle for the first time,” Lowndes laughed.
“There was a little mishap in pit-lane which broke the steering.
“With a street circuit like this, you get a lot of congestion when safety cars come out, so it was disappointing to have that result.
“Great work by the crew, they got us back out, but the steering wheel was still about a quarter of a turn out and we just wanted to make sure we finished the race.
“It’s disappointing, but it’s still good points and we’ve got a lot to look forward to tomorrow.”
Lowndes, 44, will draw the curtain on his glittering full-time career after Sunday’s 95km race.
He will remain in the category next year, contesting the three endurance rounds as a co-driver.
“I think the car is going to be good enough to be in the (top) 10, whether it is going to be good enough to be on pole, we will soon see,” Lowndes said of his Sunday prospects.
Lowndes is sitting fourth on the standings.
The Supercars title will go down to the wire on Sunday.
Ford’s Scott McLaughlin is aiming for his maiden title, holding just a two point lead over 2016 champion Shane van Gisbergen before the season finale.
Qualifying starts at 1050 AEDT.