Garth Tander wins first endurance race of 2016 in the Sandown 500
The Holden Racing Team driver duo of Garth Tander and Warren Luff claimed the first endurance race victory of the 2016 V8 Supercars season in the Sandown 500.
Tander, claiming his first win since 2014, drove the final stint to win by just 0.3485 seconds ahead of a charging Shane van Gisbergen, with a left-front guard coming loose on Tander’s Holden with 20 laps left to make things even more exciting.
While Van Gisbergen was unable to claim the victory, second place means that he takes over the championship lead from Triple Eight Race Engineering team-mate Jamie Whincup who finished 13th.
Paul Dumbrell, co-driver to Whincup, started to undo his belt before the car was stationary during a pitstop, awarding the duo with a drive-through penalty and dropping them out of the victory fight.
The race was shortened due to a red flag early in the race as Volvo co-driver James Golding crashed hard into the barriers due to a puncture. Golding, co-driver to James Moffat, was unhurt while his car received major damage.
Another driver that had a nightmare race was reigning champion Mark Winterbottom who went off into the tyre barrier on lap 55. The Prodrive Racing Australia driver was able to get back in the race, but finished 24th and last.
The Tekno Autosports duo of Will Davison and Jonathon Webb claimed the final podium spot behind the Volvo duo of Scott McLaughlin and David Wall in fourth position.
Rain hit the track on lap 37, with some drivers opting to stay out on slicks on the greasy track and incidents following with it.
Chaz Mostert finished fifth ahead of Ford colleague and DJR Team Penske driver Fabian Coulthard in sixth. Todd Kelly was the top Nissan driver in seventh position while Craig Lowndes rounded off the top eight, despite a near miss with a tyre wall towards the end of the race.
