Tander overall winner on Gold Coast

Two uneventful races and one chaotic race at this weekends V8 Supercar Challenge at Surfers Paradise saw Garth Tander take the overall win with two race wins and a eight place. Tander also moved closer to the lead in the championship, now only nine points behind leader Jamie Whincup.

The first race was a clean affair where Garth Tander initially was second but moved up to the lead in the compolsory pit stop. He kept the lead for the rest of the race to take the win despite the race being restarted in the later stages after Jason Bright damaged his car in the first chicane. Championship leader Jhamie Whincup finished a close second with teammate Craig Lowndes third. Whincup and Lowndes had a fight over second place that eventually fell to Whincup after a string of fastest laps moved him ahead. Behind them it was very close between Russel Ingall and Greg Murphy where Ingall barely got past Murphy on the very final lap and crossed the finish line just seven thousands in front of Murphy.

Former single-seater driver James Courtney led the race but lost his lead in the pit stops where they made a minor error and he eventually dropped down to sixth place. A faster pace in the first laps could have given him enough margin to keep the lead despite the error.

More drama happened further back in the field in the final laps. Both Mark Skaife and Mark Winterbottom looked set for 12:th and 13:th after a good race from poor qualifying positions. But on the final lap Skaife understeered and collected Winterbottom when he tried to recover. None of them scored any points thanks to the incident, Skaife managed to limp home in 17:th place while Winterbottom retired.

Results race 1:

1. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VE
2. Jamie Whincup Ford Falcon BF
3. Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon BF
4. Russell Ingall Ford Falcon BF
5. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VE
6. James Courtney Ford Falcon BF
7. Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VE
8. Steven Johnson Ford Falcon BF
9. Dean Canto Holden Commodore VE
10. Jason Richards Holden Commodore VE
11. Will Davison Ford Falcon BF
12. Lee Holdsworth Holden Commodore VE
13. Max Wilson Ford Falcon BF
14. Jason Bargwanna Ford Falcon BF
15. Steve Owen Holden Commodore VZ
16. Jack Perkins Holden Commodore VE
17. Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VE
18. Cameron McConville Holden Commodore VE
19. John Bowe Ford Falcon BF
20. Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon BF
21. Paul Dumbrell Holden Commodore VE
22. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford Falcon BF
23. Alan Gurr Ford Falcon BF
24. Owen Kelly Holden Commodore VE
DNF Jason Bright Ford Falcon BF
DNF Steven Richards Ford Falcon BF
DNF Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VE
DNF Shane Price Holden Commodore VE
DNF Paul Morris Holden Commodore VE
DNF Simon Wills Ford Falcon BF
DNF Andrew Jones Ford Falcon BF

In race two Garth Tander continued his good form and with the exception of a few laps around the pit stop he led the whole race from start to take his second win of the weekend. Jamie Whincup shadowed Tander home in second place but nearly lost second place after the pitstops. After emerging back on track from his pitstop Whincup accidentally hit the pit speed limiter and teammate Craig Lowndes could pass him, onlly to spin out a few laps later and handing second place back to Whincup.

The climber of the race was Steven Richards who drove a great race from 25:th on the grid to finish in fifth place, a great effort by the Ford Performace-driver in a race with few incidents and retirements.

Other drivers had less good races. James Courtney once again lost a top place. This time due to speeding in the pit lane that cost him a potential top five position. A stucked throttle sent Rick Kelly out of top five and down an escape road instead and the two finished 15:th and 16:th respectively. Mark Winterbottom tried to recover from his last lap drama in the first race but got a mechanical black flag because of a damaged rear bumper and he finished in 17:th place. Anoter driver who got black flag for a damaged rear bumper, a controversial decision, was Craig Lowndes. He was fourth in the early stages but dropped a few places after making an error. In that incident he damaged his rear bumper, and while most agreed it was a minor damage the stewards disagree and gave him a black flag. That dropped him well down the field to an eventual 24:th place, a long way away from the points.

Results race 2:
1. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VE
2. Jamie Whincup Ford Falcon BF
3. Russell Ingall Ford Falcon BF
4. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VE
5. Steven Richards Ford Falcon BF
6. Jason Richards Holden Commodore VE
7. Jason Bargwanna Ford Falcon BF
8. Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VE
9. Max Wilson Ford Falcon BF
10. Cameron McConville Holden Commodore VE
11. John Bowe Ford Falcon BF
12. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford Falcon BF
13. Steven Johnson Ford Falcon BF
14. Dean Canto Holden Commodore VE
15. James Courtney Ford Falcon BF
16. Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VE
17. Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon BF
18. Will Davison Ford Falcon BF
19. Jack Perkins Holden Commodore VE
20. Simon Wills Ford Falcon BF
21. Steve Owen Holden Commodore VZ
22. Shane Price Holden Commodore VE
23. Owen Kelly Holden Commodore VE
24. Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon BF
25. Paul Morris Holden Commodore VE
26. Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VE
27. Lee Holdsworth Holden Commodore VE
28. Andrew Jones Ford Falcon BF
DNF Paul Dumbrell Holden Commodore VE
DNF Alan Gurr Ford Falcon BF

If the first two races around Surfers Paradise was quite incident free, the third race of the weekend more than made up that. Steven Richards eventually won the chaotic race in his Ford, after he took over the lead oin lap 10 when Jamie Whincup locked up his brakes and ended in an escape road. Richards led the rest of the race even through a late safety car period.

Jason Richards finished second with Russel Ingall third. James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom made up for their bad luck in the first two races by finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Winterbottom once again climbed through the field after starting back in the field but this time he managed t o make it stick by climbing from 17:th to fifth place.

The overall win of the weekend went to Garth Tander who followed up his two race wins with an eight place in the third race.

The chaos in the final race started on lap six when the safety car came out after several incidents on the track. It all started when John Bowe ran wide and got hit from behind by Shane van Gisbergen when he rejoined the track. Gisbergen spun and when he came across the track several drivers narrowly missed him until Craig Lowndes and Todd Kelly collected him. Lowndes spun as a result of the contact but managed to control the spin, while Todd Kelly got a puncture that made him spin at the next turn after the back straight. John Bowe whio started all the drama was now back racing only to run into the side of Kellys car, damaging both cars.

The safety car came out and as it did so all drivers headed for the pits, meaning several two-car teams had two cars for just one pit box. Several drivers lost many positions when stationayr behind their teammates. With a busy pit lane several drivers were also made to wait until it was clear to exit the pits and there was very busy in the pits around this time. They hectics pits invetiably led to incidents even here as second-placed Tander was released in the fast lane just as Greg Murhpy passed a nd they two collided. That led to Tander getting a drive-through penalty for the incident. Ironically the cause for the accident seemed to be that Murphy had actually missed his pit stall and therefore was in a position Tander and his team didn’t expect him to be in.

The race restarted on lap 8 just to see leader Whincup outbrake himself and ending up in one of the many escape roads. He fell down to 21:st place, two places ahead of Garth Tander and the two of them starte picking up places slowly but steady. Debris on the track led to the safety car being deployed again with nine laps remaining of the race. Whincup and Tander was now up to 13:th and 18:th and with four laps remaining Whincup was up to seventh place after a great comeback. It all turned into disaster though on lap 25 as he and James Courtney ahead of him closed up behind Bargwanna. Courtney could pass Bargwanna but when Whincup tried to follow through he got hit by an oversteering Bargwanna at the exit of turn thrre. This started a chainreaction behind them – Dean Canto made an optistic move to try and pass both Bargwanna and Whincup in the next corner and tapped Whincup into a spin. Whincup tried to control the spin but was hit again by Canto and several drivers lost positions when they tried to avoid both Whincup and Canto. Whincup was forced to retire and a greaat drive up the field ended in a disaster and no points.

The drama meant several drivers moved up the field, most of the championship rivals to Whincup. Among the beneficiaries was Garth Tander who moved up from 14:th to eight place at the finish.

The races at Surfers Paradise tightened the championship battle, and Whincup now leads with only nine points ahead of Garth Tander and 28 points ahead of Craig Lowndes. The top four is now only seperated by 35 points with three race weekends remaining.

Results race 3:

1. Steven Richards Ford Falcon BF
2. Jason Richards Holden Commodore VE
3. Russell Ingall Ford Falcon BF
4. James Courtney Ford Falcon BF
5. Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon BF
6. Rick Kelly Holden Commodore VE
7. Craig Lowndes Ford Falcon BF
8. Garth Tander Holden Commodore VE
9. Cameron McConville Holden Commodore VE
10. Max Wilson Ford Falcon BF
11. Will Davison Ford Falcon BF
12. Jason Bargwanna Ford Falcon BF
13. Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VE
14. Lee Holdsworth Holden Commodore VE
15. Simon Wills Ford Falcon BF
16. Alan Gurr Ford Falcon BF
DNF Dean Canto Holden Commodore VE
DNF Jamie Whincup Ford Falcon BF
DNF Steven Johnson Ford Falcon BF
DNF Mark Skaife Holden Commodore VE
DNF Andrew Jones Ford Falcon BF
DNF Shane Price Holden Commodore VE
DNF Jack Perkins Holden Commodore VE
DNF Steve Owen Holden Commodore VZ
DNF John Bowe Ford Falcon BF
DNF Shane Van Gisbergen Ford Falcon BF
DNF Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VE
DNF Owen Kelly Holden Commodore VE
DNF Paul Dumbrell Holden Commodore VE
DNF Paul Morris Holden Commodore VE