Photo: Holden Media

Garth Tander takes Bathurst 1000 pole

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Holden man Garth Tander secured pole position for the 2009 Bathurst 1000 in the top ten shoot out. The pole time of Tander was the only time under 2:07.
“That was a really hard lap to do because of the weather, how it changed the track,” said Tander.

“To be honest, I’m glad [qualifying] is over and done with and we can concentrate on tomorrow. Will’s going to start tomorrow so I’m not going to have to worry about the demons of last year and we can press on for 161 laps,” said Tander.

The conditions were a bit tricky as heavy rain had fell earlier during the day. The first teams on track had a worse track to deal with compared to the last ones.

Closest rival was Craig Lowndes in the Team Vodaphone Ford Falcon. Mark Winterbottom claimed third, making it two Ford teams in the top three ahead of the race.

Lee Holdsworth took fourth ahead of Jim Richards, who topped the qualifying session yesterday. The team tried hard though as they came near to hitting the wall at Reid Park on their fast lap.

World Touring Car Championship drivers James Thompson and Andy Priaulx failed to make it to the top ten shoot out. Thompson is going to start 17th and Priaulx 25th.