Toll HRT’s Garth Tander has again managed to finish ahead of his closest Championship rivals finishing second overall in today’s Race 20 at the SuperGP. His team-mate Will Davison has managed to place himself within striking distance of the Championship lead after he cut Whincup’s lead to just 32 points.

 

Tander’s drive in today’s second race was tough, but he made a great fight back in both legs after struggling in the 20 minute qualifying dash earlier today.

 

Tander started back in 12th for the first race of the day and managed to avoid any early race incidents. He chipped away at the field in front, took advantage of the safety car restarts and tussled for position.

 

He made moves on Van Gisbergen and Ingall early on and a mechanical black flag forced Kelly into pit lane and allowed Tander into third. The first race finish set him up for a strong Race 2 result.

 

He jumped off the start in the second race, managed to avoid the Turn 1 clash that was happening behind and had safely secured second place. But a safety car on lap 2 to re-order the field put Tander back in third.

 

It wasn’t long before his lost position was reclaimed, a black flag for Craig Lowndes handing him back second spot.

 

From there he chased Mark Winterbottom who was setting the pace. In the end he had to settle for second which gave him enough points for second overall in Race 20.

 

Things looked bleak for Davison this morning when qualifying didn’t quite go according to plan. Davison was on top of the time sheets but clipped the wall on one of his flying laps.

 

He was forced into pit lane to have the damage looked at; the team taking to the bodywork with force to get the car back out before time ran out.

 

He pushed on and despite his mishap managed to secure fifth place for the start of the first race of the day.

 

It didn’t get any better for Davison in the race, this time a clash with the tyre barrier damaged the steering on the #22 car.

 

Davison fell behind three laps while the team repaired the car. It was a gutsy drive by the 27 year old who had a number of different issues to deal with including copping Van Gisbergen’s door in the rear windscreen.

 

Davison was able to salvage a result in the second 150km leg, he fought back from 21st to 10th over the 34 laps.

 

It looked like Whincup’s hold on the Championship would be increased after Part A of Race 20, but a final lap error by the Ford driver left him up against the concrete wall for the second time this weekend.

 

Whincup failed to finish the race which allowed Davison to claw back points. Davison now trails Whincup by a marginal 32 points.

 

Tander was able to make up ground on the leaders, he is now 257 points behind his team-mate.

 

The next event on the V8 Supercar calendar is in two weeks time at Phillip Island.

 

Garth Tander – #2 Toll HRT Commodore (Qualifying: 12th, 1:50.3902; Race 20 Part A: 3rd; Part B:

2nd)

“If you said to me this morning would you be happy with third and second after qualifying 12th around this circuit I would have said absolutely. My Toll HRT Commodore was very good all day, it improved and we were probably equal there with ‘Frosty’ and I said to him on the podium afterwards that I wasn’t going to lunge him because what was happening with all the other Championship aspirants behind me, I was very happy with second and a bag load of points."

“The whole Toll HRT crew worked incredibly hard today, we were on our third gearbox in that race, we changed it after qualifying and then again after Race 1 this morning. Just making it out to the races was a massive effort and the crew did a great job. The team showed their fighting spirit obviously with Will’s dramas and then a few issues with my car today. To have the cars as fast as they were and then to get to the end was a big effort”

 

Will Davison - #22 Toll HRT Commodore (Qualifying: 5th, 1:50.1172; Race 20 Part A: 21st; Part B: 10th)

“Today was disappointing, but I’m glad we got through it and made some points up on Jamie [Whincup] over the weekend. The pace of my car was good, top three, but we just had to make sure we survived the afternoon after our issues in this morning’s race. It’s crazy back there [starting 21st in part ‘B’] – there’s some drivers thinking they’re driving bumper cars, while with all the heat back in the pack the brakes don’t work and it’s just so much harder. I enjoy these street events, but I’m really looking forward to Phillip Island and Barbagallo, getting back to flowing circuits without all the concrete. I’m pretty confident about those events.”