Tander takes lead after Whincup disaster

TOLL HSV’s Garth Tander survived a near fatal hit by his own team-mate to regain the V8 Supercar Championship Series lead after a tragic weekend at the Desert 400 in Bahrain for previous leader Jamie Whincup.

Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom won the weekend with a dominant display of two wins and a third with Jeld Wen Racing’s James Courtney second and the resurgent Jim Beam Racing Team finishing third and fourth through Steve Johnson and Will Davison.

The Championship ramifications could be huge. Whincup scored no points for the weekend surging Tander to 530 points and the Championship lead. Whincup’s team-mate Craig Lowndes is just 20 points behind in second with Whincup third (501) and Rick Kelly fourth (496).

But Tander’s weekend could easily have turned into a complete disaster when his own team-mate turned him around in race two in what seemed to be a huge mistake on the part of Kelly. There were certainly stern words from the Toll HSV team manager Rob Crawford.

“I didn’t know Rick was so far up on the inside,” Tander said, playing down the incident.

“There was only a small bit of contact but with very little grip here it was just enough to turn the car around. Rick and I have raced together for several years without swapping paint so it’s unfortunate that it has cost us points.”

But with Whincup having all sorts of dramas the damage was limited and Tander was able to work his way back up the field to finish sixth with Kelly eighth for the weekend.

Meanwhile Winterbottom was streeting the field in races one and two but succumbed to Lowndes who had a miraculous drive coming from 30th at the start of race two and ultimately winning the third and final race of the weekend.

It was Winterbottom’s first solo round win and second overall having won the Sandown 500 last year with Jason Bright. It was Ford Performance Racing’s second straight win at the Desert 400.

“It’s been a long time coming and to have the speed we do without the results has been a major disappointment to the team,” Winterbottom said.

“It’s an international event and one we have a very high regard for. So to have the trophy in the cabinet again (Bright won last year) is a great thing.”

Courtney was a quiet achiever with the dramas unfolding around him to take second for his team after also coming second at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 a month ago.

“All year we’ve had little things go wrong that have cost us podiums here and there but it’s good to be getting a few now in the back half of the year,” Courtney said.

Johnson was also gratified that the hard slog of his team was now paying off.

“Clearly we had a bit of luck with a few orange (Toll HSV) cars coming together and taking each other out but it is still great for the team,” Johnson said.

No action was taken overnight against Paul Morris or Lowndes following yesterday’s spectacular crash that took the pair out and also ended Whincup’s race. All damage was repaired overnight.

But the luck still ran out for Whincup in race two when he left the track in an incident but then tried to reverse back on straight into the path of an oncoming Max Wilson. Wilson showed great skills to avoid a disaster by only clipping the rear of the Whincup Falcon.

Stewards subsequently penalised Whincup for a dangerous re-entry to the track with a pit lane penalty putting him even further back down the field. He scrambled but finished outside of the point in the race as the Championship took yet another twist.