Tander wins first race in Hamilton

Garth Tander has maintained Holden’s strangle hold on New Zealand taking the chequered flag from Rick Kelly following 36 laps action filled laps during race one in Hamilton.

It was a war of attrition for many as the tough Hamilton street circuit took its toll on many cars, with three, Russell Ingall, Steven Johnson and Shane Price, being claimed on the opening lap following a pile up coming out of Turn Two.

The win sees Tander move up three positions in the Championship race, while Jamie Whincup maintains a slender lead over Rick Kelly that will surely be eroded by the end of the round after the #88 car was ruled out of the round following a big impact with the wall during qualifying.

Pole position holder Steve Richards was the first Ford home in third position followed by James Courtney and Lee Holdsworth.

Rookie Fabian Coulthard was the first Kiwi home showing a growing maturity that saw him maintain his qualifying speed to bring home the #111 Falcon home in 7th for his and the team’s highest finishing position in V8 Supercar.

It was Tander’s 31st race win and the current Supercar Champion was happy with the car’s performance throughout the race.

“It’s fantastic to win the first race ever here, the car was really really good, I think we got lucky on the first la when Richo locked a brake and ran wide otherwise it probably would have been difficult to get by,” Tander said.

“After the pit stops we had to hand in behind Mark (Skaife) because the team wanted to keep him out as long as possible until it was viable for him to pit, so it a matter of sitting there monitoring the gap back to Rick and trying to look after the car until Mark peeled off and pitted.

“We tried to maintain a constant level (throughout the race) because I didn’t want to sprint off into the distance use the tyres and then if we had a safety car late in the race have nothing left to fight with.”

The question of the chicane was once again raised when a number of cars suffered punctures during the race and it was something Tander received warning about from the team toward the end of the race, however he was still full of praise for the track overall.

“We got a call over the radio when there was about 10 to go to stay off the curbs because they thought there might be something puncturing some tyres, but we didn’t have any issues with that and the car was good all the way to the end,” Tander said.

“We probably need to massage the chicane a little bit. What the solution is there I’m not to sure but I don’t think we need to change the track a whole heap particularly, just enough to make the traffic flow a little bit nicer through there. Other than I think it is fantastic.