Tander/Skaife win L&H 500 with comeback

The Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander and Mark Skaife have pulled off one of the most amazing comebacks in V8 Supercar history to win a spectacular L&H 500 at Phillip Island.
The race had it all for the Toll HRT, after starting the day tenth they had a disastrous first pit stop that saw them go a lap down in the shuffle of stops.

A difficult mid-race setup had the #1 Toll HRT Commodore falling off the pace and dropping back to 14th, a surprise rain storm lashed the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit and had teams tearing up strategies, and a number of crucial Safety Car appearances and good calls brought Tander and Skaife back into contention.

Tander and Skaife’s memorable victory was brought about due to a number of critical moments in the 113 lap race:

When a Safety Car appeared on lap 67, Skaife was short of his minimum 38 laps and stayed out when others around pitted. Then the rain hit and the five-time Champion survived two crucial laps in the extreme wet on slicks before pitting on lap 73 for wet weather tyres and to hand over to Tander for the run to the flag.

By this stage, Skaife and Tander had crawled their way back into contention and with just over 20 laps remaining the #1 Toll HRT Commodore was second behind the leading Falcon of Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.

The Safety Car again appeared on lap 83 when Holden driver Andrew Jones rolled his Commodore and Tander pitted for slicks.

When the racing resumed, Tander was onto the tail of the Vodafone Falcon as lap 100 ticked over, and just two laps later Whincup locked the rears and went wide into the Honda Hairpin – Tander, Skaife and the Toll HRT grabbing the lead, which they held to the very end.

Playing support to Tander and Skaife, Glenn Seton and Craig Baird ran strongly in the second Toll HRT Commodore, finishing one lap down in 14th overall position.

The brilliant come from behind win was Tander’s third for the season and Skaife’s first, while it was also his 40th round victory overall – a series record.

With his victory, Tander extended his championship lead from 12 to 53 points over Ford rival Mark Winterbottom, while Skaife moved two places up to 13th on the series points table.

The next round of the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series is the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama on 9-12 October.

“I said at the start of the weekend that the team that thinks the best on its feet would win the race, and our team did a great job. said Garth Tander.

“We were behind the eight ball strategy-wise until the rain came. All weekend our car was fast, then slow, then fast, but when we put the wets it was very good. Once we got that second Safety Car and went back on slicks it was fantastic, the best it’s been all weekend.

“It’s a great win and full credit must go to the Toll Holden Racing Team for doing a fantastic job. Jamie and I were both on the edge at the end. I knew I was in trouble and he just went a little wide and I was able to sneak through. Anything can happen in these races and you just don’t give up until the very end. An opportunity presented itself and we were there to take it.”

“What a day of ups and downs! remarked Mark Skaife.

“We had a problem with the first stop when my belts popped open just as we were doing the last one up – we had to do them up again and that cost us time. The car just wasn’t good mid-race and I did the best I could.

“Then the rain came and I’ve never driven in conditions like that on slicks, it was as bad as it ever gets. I just knew when there were cars off the track everywhere that if we could stay on the road and sneak in then we were in a good position as it was right on our limit.

“The timing isn’t always perfect for those things, but today it was good for us. The win was Garth’s as he drove very, very well to bring it home for the Toll Holden Racing Team.”