Tander helps Holden to Townsville 1,2
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Saturday, 10 July 2010 |
The Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander has helped Holden record a dominating 1, 2 in the first race for the Sucrogen Townsville 400 today.
After starting the race from third, Tander quickly moved into the lead not long from the start before being passed by rival Jamie Whincup.
The #2 Toll HRT Commodore lost ground to Whincup’s Holden in the late stages of the first stint, but changes to Tander’s car in the stop brought it back on song with the 2007 V8 Supercar Champion maintaining the gap from there until the finish.
Tander said the pace of his Commodore in the latter part of today’s 72 lap race was strong and he was looking forward to matching it with his rival in tomorrow’s finale.
For team-mate Will Davison, today’s race continued the season of frustration with the #22 Toll HRT Commodore suffering damaged steering on the opening lap after contact with Craig Lowndes’ Commodore.
Davison’s pace was strong, but further steering damage occurred in a late race tussle with three other vehicles.
The reigning Barry Sheene Medallist was also upset when he made contact with a number of crew members in his second pit stop, his car skidding unanticipated on the concrete pit lane – luckily no injuries were suffered.
Whincup won the race from Tander with Ford’s Mark Winterbottom third.
The Sucrogen Townsville 400 concludes tomorrow (Sunday) with qualifying scheduled for 11am and the final 200km race set for 1.35pm.
Live coverage is on Channel 7, check your local guides for full details.
Garth Tander, #2 Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE:
“My Toll HRT Commodore was not too bad at the start of the race, but then it used the tyres a bit too hard and we lost a bit of pace in the late part of the first stint. Then we tuned the car in both the stops and it felt better and better. As the rubber went down our car came alive. We’ve got a few changes we need to make tonight, but in the last 15 laps of the race I did a bit of testing with the roll bars and I think I found something. It’s good to be able to see the back of Jamie’s car again, so let’s hope he’ll be able to see the back of ours tomorrow. I’ve never looked forward to the next day so much as I do now after 200kms of racing. I feel fantastic and ready to go again.”
Will Davison, #22 Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE:
“A frustrating day for me today – we didn’t qualify as well as we should have, then I sustained a little bit of damage in the first couple of corners of the race when we got into a bit of biff and barge. The first kink is meant to be flat, but Lowndesy unexpectedly got off the throttle in front of me and I unfortunately hit him. I had a bit of steering damage from there and it was a tough first stint. I was a little too eager and aggressive in the next stop, the concrete pit lane surface is slippery and unfortunately I hit a few of the boys on the crew, which I feel very bad about. They’re ok, but we lost a chunk of time. From there, the pace of the car was encouraging, on the fresh tyres it was fast, but we struggled with tyre life. I was moving forward well, but got into another tussle with some other drivers and we sustained even more steering damage. It was hard work, a hard day.”
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