LOWNDES TV BACKLASH

Confirmation that Craig Lowndes will replace Russell Ingall on Fox Sports’ Supercars coverage has caused an uproar among fans on social media.

By MARK FOGARTY

It was announced early on Sunday (February 10) that Lowndes is joining Mark Skaife and host Jessica Yates in the Fox Sports presentation studio during the non-enduro events.

The popular V8 veteran retired from fulltime driving at the end of last season to become Jamie Whincup’s co-driver at Bathurst, Surfers Paradise and Sandown.

While it was known that he would join the Supercars broadcast commentary team, Lowndes’s role hadn’t been defined until now.

However, it was clear he was always destined to replace Ingall on the Fox Sports trackside hosting desk when the outspoken 2005 Supercars champion revealed during the week that he had been dumped.

Ingall had been informed weeks earlier that his services would no longer be required.

Fox Sports managements’ comments about the change were disingenuous and the announcement was badly handled.

It appeared out of the blue on the Supercars web site very early Sunday morning, with no communication to independent motor sport media.

AA was the first to question Ingall’s future with Fox Sports late last year, based on the logic that five-into-four wouldn’t work for airtime and cost reasons.

With Lowndes arriving, one of Mark Skaife, Greg Murphy, Mark Larkham or Ingall had to go. Given that a studio pundit role was most suitable for Lowndes and his situation, the casualty was obvious/inevitable.

Fox Sports was always going to salivate at the prospect of bringing superstar Lowndes on board, enamoured as they are with ex-champions as broadcasters.

And as the face of Supercars, there is no one more popular or recognised – except perhaps Dick Johnson. However, Dick is perhaps too laconic for TV and his team co-ownership is a conflict – but you’d hardly know that.

Johnson says what he thinks, although he has his own agenda that requires circumspection about his comments.

In a story on Lowndes’s broadcasting future in late December, Supercars CEO Sean Seamer told AA that he didn’t know Ingall’s status going forward.

“Russell works with the Fox Sports team, so I’m sure they’re working through what his plans are for next year as well,” Seamer said.

In hindsight, that appears to have been less than forthcoming, even if you allow for the fact that Fox Sports’ hosting panel is independent of the Supercars Media-produced simulcast coverage of the track action.

It is difficult to imagine Seamer would not have known how Lowndes’s inclusion would impact the line-up of talking heads, but commercial-in-confidence considerations may account for his obfuscation.

Reaction to the announcement that Lowndes had taken over from Ingall was swift and overwhelmingly negative.

Although his appointment is acclaimed in itself because of his popularity, fans are outraged that it is at the cost of Ingall, who followers regard as forthright and unbiased.

Ingall’s ouster is unpopular and on Facebook, at least two campaigns have been launched to keep him on Fox Sports.

Thousands of fans have signed petitions imploring Fox Sports to retain him, citing his devil-may-care comments.

The majority are supportive of Lowndes joining the broadcast team, but not at the expense of Ingall.

Almost universally, fans vented their displeasure on social media, condemning the move as a further erosion of impartial comment and criticism on the Supercars Media-produced telecasts.

The outcry on social media also lamented a perceived Triple Eight team bias, with many commenters also accusing Skaife of being pro-T8/Holden.

To be fair, the same scepticism could have been levelled at Ingall, who had co-driving gigs with Ford Performance Racing, Holden Racing Team and Nissan Motorsport in the early years of his Fox Sports pundit role.

But his candid comments alongside Skaife and Yates since 2015 have earned fans’ respect in an extension of his following as ‘The Enforcer’ when he was racing.

A notably aggressive racer, as well as winning the ’05 title with Ford and Stone Brothers Racing, he scored notable Bathurst 1000 victories with fellow hard-nut Larry Perkins in Holden Commodores in 1995/97.

Lowndes’s alignments for the next couple of years are no secret. Along with his two-year co-driving commitment, he is a Triple Eight team ambassador and also a Supercars representative.

He will figure prominently at the Supercars season launch at Federation Square on Melbourne on Wednesday.

Supercars Media – the confusing name for the category’s broadcast production division – supplies a common feed to Fox Sports and free-to-air partner Network 10 for all practice and qualifying sessions, and races.

Track action commentary by Neil Crompton and Mark Skaife, plus pit reporting by Greg Murphy, Mark Larkham and Riana Crehan, is simulcast on both networks.

Judging by the social media reaction, Supercars has over-estimated Lowndes’s appeal as an impartial observer and under-estimated Ingall’s credibility.

Along with continuing questions by fans of Skaife’s pervasive presence, you have to wonder about the veracity of Supercars’ broadcasts.

The production and pictures are world-class, but compared with, say, the AFL’s simulcast coverage of games on Fox Sports and Seven, the telecasts lack objectivity.

Both Fox Sports and Seven air shows outside the games that are searching and controversial, calling the AFL to account.

Supercars broadcasts are tame and unchallenging, with track action commentaries common to Fox Sports and 10 – the latter live at six major events, the rest highlights.

Otherwise, there is no questioning coverage. Last year’s Supercars Trackside pre- and -post event shows on Fox Sports were much better than previous efforts – and Ingall’s observations were entertaining – but they were still less than robust critiques.

Supercars on Fox Sports – or, for that matter, 10 – lacks the critical analysis of shows like AFL 360, On The Couch and Seven’s Talking Footy, etc.

The same can be said of Fox Sports’ and Nine’s extra-curricular coverage of the NRL, which is hard-hitting.

Supercars is not subject to broadcast debate, with Ingall the lone voice to question the category’s decisions/developments/direction on-air.

He is not the smoothest of presenters, but his willingness to call out injustices and speak his mind earned him the respect of invested viewers – and entertained casual watchers.

Lowndes will bring personality appeal to Fox Sports’ coverage, but don’t expect contentious – much less, dissenting – opinion.

It is just not in Craig’s nature to criticise. While his broad analyses may be interesting because he knows the game, it is unlikely he will speak his mind because of his conflicted involvement.

He is, to his credit, the first to admit that he has a lot to learn about being a presenter/pundit and that it will take a while for him to become comfortable in this new role.

This is only natural and the fans will give him the time to develop as a broadcaster, according him the respect that his stature in the sport demands.

Lowndes’s commitment is such that he will undertake presentation training with Fox Sports, presumably before his telecast debut at the Adelaide 500.

Regardless of the bad reaction to him replacing Ingall, which was not of his doing, he will be popular because of his career-defining natural affinity with people.

The fans love him and will be enthralled by his observations. But the more discerning will still take all but his racing analyses with a grain of salt because he is conflicted.

In my long experience, Craig doesn’t like controversy and will certainly avoid it while he is still racing. Long-term, that may change and he may grow into a more assertive role, especially once he has finished racing far into the future.

His deal with Supercars/Fox Sports is that that he will join Yates and Skaife in the Fox Sports trackside studio when he’s not racing.

Lowndes has a ‘get out’ clause for the Darwin round if he secures a drive in the clashing Le Mans 24 Hours, an event to which he has long aspired.

Otherwise, he will be behind the desk with Yates and Skaife from Adelaide to Pukekohe, and again at Newcastle.

But even during the enduros, when he is racing with RBHRT, you can be sure he will be a regular on Fox Sports’ coverage.

According to Supercars supremo Sean Seamer, Lowndes’s broadcast role will develop as he transitions from part-time racer to complete retirement from racing.

“It will evolve over time, once he gets his feet under the desk,” Seamer told AA recently. “He’ll play an active role in the season launch.”

When Lowndes isn’t available to be at the Fox Sports desk, fellow semi-retiree Garth Tander may be a back-up.

Tander, co-driving Shane van Gisbergen in the enduros, is articulate and incisive.

Seamer claims Supercars hadn’t thought of Tander as an addition to the broadcast team, but agreed it was a good idea that would be considered.

Away from the enduros, Tander would be an excellent commentator/pundit because of his more than 20 years of experience and lucidity.

This story has been updated with new perspective since it was first published.

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