Tander takes victory at Townsville

Holden Racing Team driver Garth Tander has taken victory in race one at Townsville, whilst Jamie Whincup extends his championship lead in the Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden with second.

Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom, sporting the No.95 and name tag ‘Frosty’ in a marketing tie-up with Disney, started from pole position with Triple Eight’s Jamie Whincup alongside him on the front-row.

At the start, Winterbottom had a great start as did his team-mate Will Davison, who slotted behind him in second place.

On the second lap, New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen was spun out after being hit by a lunge from his team-mate Tim Slade in the Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon. The 25-year-old picked up a drive-through penalty shortly after for the incident.

David Reynolds in the Kelly Racing Holden had started on the soft sprint tyre and worked his way through the order, with Rod Nash Racing’s Paul Dumbrell in tow, also on the sprint tyre. By lap seven, Reynolds had assumed the lead, with Dumbrell taking second place from stable-mate Mark Winterbottom on lap 14.

There was drama in the first round of pit stops as Reynolds had stayed out a later than his rivals, which saw his tyres radidly lose performance. Whilst he was being passed by cars he’d already lapped, Reynolds was trying to cross the track to get into the pits after Jason Bargwanna had gone past him, but collected the HRT Commodore of James Courtney as he did so, with Courtney forced into the garage effectively ending his race.

Reynolds was also suffering with a failed cool suit in the scorching hot Queensland weather, and was unable to continue for much longer in the race, retiring on lap 36.

Tander had shown great pace in the first segment, despite being on the hard tyre. Now with Paul Dumbrell on the same hard tyres in the middle stint, Tander took the lead from Dumbrell on lap 35, with Jamie Whincup following him up into second place a few laps later.

The leaders came in for their final sets of tyres, in most cases the sprint tyre from Lap 49, but there was controversy as race leader Garth Tander clipped the pit entry corner marker and a penalty was expected. Race control ordered no penalty however, and the West Australian kept his position at the front, going on to take his second win of the season, just over three seconds clear of Jamie Whincup.

FPR’s Will Davison had to fight tooth and nail to keep Craig Lowndes behind him in the second military liveried Triple Eight Commodore, with the triple champion having preserved his tyres more effectively than anyone else in the final stint. Davison did the job though and took the final podium position for Ford Performance Racing, with team-mate Winterbottom passing a struggling Lee Holdsworth for fifth in the final few laps.

Whincup extends his lead in the championship over Craig Lowndes as a result of finishing second, but the day was all about Garth Tander, dedicating the victory to his newborn daughter Scarlett.

Race 15 takes place tomorrow at 15:30 local time, after a second qualifying session at 11:40.