Tander does it again
April 23rd 2008 00:38
Garth Tander has done it again, reminding V8 Supercar fans just why he is the reigning series champion, taking out all three races in the inaugural Hamilton 400 last weekend.
Jamie Whincup, who was sitting pretty on top of the points table before the round began, had a major racing incident during qualifying after coming together with Todd Kelly’s Commodore halfway through the second session. A passing move went horribly wrong for Whincup when Kelly, with nowhere else to go, speared across the track off the ripple strip, clipping Whincup and sending him crashing into the wall. The car was so severely damaged that the weekend was over before it had even begun for the #88 Team Vodafone driver.
A brilliant qualifying lap saw Steven Richards take pole position for the first race on Saturday but that was to be the only time he was to lead the race as Tander leapfrogged over him at the start, maintaining his lead throughout the weekend and giving no other driver any chance to take control of the race.
Richards finished with a very respectable second place overall with third going to SBR driver James Courtney.
The weekend was an eventful one as the drivers familiarised themselves with the new venue, including a chicane which proved to be particularly damaging to many of the cars. The incident of the weekend belonged to Jim Beam driver Will Davison whose bonnet flew up while exiting pit lane, badly damaging his windscreen and forcing him to drive a whole lap with the bonnet almost completely obscuring his view.
A number of the younger, inexperienced drivers showed they had what it takes to compete with the best in the sport. Kiwi Fabian Coulthard ended the weekend with a stack of points in fifth overall and SBR’s Shane Van Gisbergen showed some excellent, mature driving to finish race three in tenth. Rod Nash Racing’s Tony D’Alberto was unlucky not to improve upon his 11th placing in race 2 after a racing incident finished his weekend early in race three.
But the weekend belonged to Garth Tander and Holden, consolidating Holden’s hold on the New Zealand round of the championship.
“It was three very good races, there was gaps and then it flowed and then there were safety cars and it's a new circuit and it is quite easy to make mistakes here, so I was just trying to concentrate and look after the car as much as I could,” Tander said.
“We have seen all weekend cars being damaged by the chicane and the curbs so I just wanted to look after the car and tyres in case there was any late safety cars. As it turned out in two out of the three races we had late safety cars and I needed that little bit of a spurt to get away from Richo [Steven Richards] so we could bring it home.
“It's a fantastic result for us and fantastic for Holden, eighth in a row here in New Zealand and also a bit of revenge on New Zealand after last year so I had a fair bit of motivation to get this one.”
Steven Richards was also satisfied with how his weekend had panned out.
“I'm pretty happy, it been a while between drinks for pole position and we made the most of the differing conditions yesterday and Garth definitely had very good pace off the restart better than us,” Richards said.
“We went a little bit backward in the last race with set up, but overall pretty pleased all things considered. I think we made a big step forward in our championship chase and that's the main thing, to get some points on the board.
“We made a change for the last race and it definitely hurt the car a little bit, but toward the end of the race we definitely had as good a race pace as Garth. But at the start the car was bouncing around on the bumps a fair bit and was giving the old brain a bit of a rattle and we were struggling to keep up early.”
Another driver pleased with his performance was James Courtney who kept out of trouble all weekend, driving a series of clean races.
“It was a good result. We have had good speed all year but it has been an up and down start to the season and now it is good to have a clean weekend and let someone else have the bad luck,” said Courtney following the round.
“So it's good to get some strong points under our belt and now we can work on what we have found from this weekend.
“I guess when you are in the front you don't have to be as aggressive to get through. In the past I've been coming through from further back and you have to have calculated aggression and at times things have gone wrong. But with a clean qualifying and starting near the front you don't have to get involved in any mayhem and you can just concentrate on doing smooth, quick, clean and consistent lap times.
“And look what happens at the end of the day it was probably the easiest weekend I have had for as long as I can remember.”
Whincup has dropped back to fifth in the points table following his disastrous weekend with Rick Kelly taking control of the championship with 672 points. Tander has moved into second position on 626 points followed by Lee Holdsworth, third on the table. The highest placed Ford driver is now Mark Winterbottom in fourth.
The next round of the championship will be the Bigpond 400 in Perth on 9-11 May 2008.
Image courtesy of the official Holden Motorsport website.
Jamie Whincup, who was sitting pretty on top of the points table before the round began, had a major racing incident during qualifying after coming together with Todd Kelly’s Commodore halfway through the second session. A passing move went horribly wrong for Whincup when Kelly, with nowhere else to go, speared across the track off the ripple strip, clipping Whincup and sending him crashing into the wall. The car was so severely damaged that the weekend was over before it had even begun for the #88 Team Vodafone driver.
A brilliant qualifying lap saw Steven Richards take pole position for the first race on Saturday but that was to be the only time he was to lead the race as Tander leapfrogged over him at the start, maintaining his lead throughout the weekend and giving no other driver any chance to take control of the race.
Richards finished with a very respectable second place overall with third going to SBR driver James Courtney.
The weekend was an eventful one as the drivers familiarised themselves with the new venue, including a chicane which proved to be particularly damaging to many of the cars. The incident of the weekend belonged to Jim Beam driver Will Davison whose bonnet flew up while exiting pit lane, badly damaging his windscreen and forcing him to drive a whole lap with the bonnet almost completely obscuring his view.
A number of the younger, inexperienced drivers showed they had what it takes to compete with the best in the sport. Kiwi Fabian Coulthard ended the weekend with a stack of points in fifth overall and SBR’s Shane Van Gisbergen showed some excellent, mature driving to finish race three in tenth. Rod Nash Racing’s Tony D’Alberto was unlucky not to improve upon his 11th placing in race 2 after a racing incident finished his weekend early in race three.
But the weekend belonged to Garth Tander and Holden, consolidating Holden’s hold on the New Zealand round of the championship.
The inaugural Hamilton winners
“It was three very good races, there was gaps and then it flowed and then there were safety cars and it's a new circuit and it is quite easy to make mistakes here, so I was just trying to concentrate and look after the car as much as I could,” Tander said.
“We have seen all weekend cars being damaged by the chicane and the curbs so I just wanted to look after the car and tyres in case there was any late safety cars. As it turned out in two out of the three races we had late safety cars and I needed that little bit of a spurt to get away from Richo [Steven Richards] so we could bring it home.
“It's a fantastic result for us and fantastic for Holden, eighth in a row here in New Zealand and also a bit of revenge on New Zealand after last year so I had a fair bit of motivation to get this one.”
Steven Richards was also satisfied with how his weekend had panned out.
“I'm pretty happy, it been a while between drinks for pole position and we made the most of the differing conditions yesterday and Garth definitely had very good pace off the restart better than us,” Richards said.
“We went a little bit backward in the last race with set up, but overall pretty pleased all things considered. I think we made a big step forward in our championship chase and that's the main thing, to get some points on the board.
“We made a change for the last race and it definitely hurt the car a little bit, but toward the end of the race we definitely had as good a race pace as Garth. But at the start the car was bouncing around on the bumps a fair bit and was giving the old brain a bit of a rattle and we were struggling to keep up early.”
Another driver pleased with his performance was James Courtney who kept out of trouble all weekend, driving a series of clean races.
“It was a good result. We have had good speed all year but it has been an up and down start to the season and now it is good to have a clean weekend and let someone else have the bad luck,” said Courtney following the round.
“So it's good to get some strong points under our belt and now we can work on what we have found from this weekend.
“I guess when you are in the front you don't have to be as aggressive to get through. In the past I've been coming through from further back and you have to have calculated aggression and at times things have gone wrong. But with a clean qualifying and starting near the front you don't have to get involved in any mayhem and you can just concentrate on doing smooth, quick, clean and consistent lap times.
“And look what happens at the end of the day it was probably the easiest weekend I have had for as long as I can remember.”
Whincup has dropped back to fifth in the points table following his disastrous weekend with Rick Kelly taking control of the championship with 672 points. Tander has moved into second position on 626 points followed by Lee Holdsworth, third on the table. The highest placed Ford driver is now Mark Winterbottom in fourth.
The next round of the championship will be the Bigpond 400 in Perth on 9-11 May 2008.
Image courtesy of the official Holden Motorsport website.
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