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Tander wins on empty

Tander wins on empty

03/14/2010 09:10:23 AM

Holden Racing's Garth Tander has won a thrilling second race of the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide on Sunday.

Tander completed a clean sweep of both races after a contentious stewards' decision cruelled rival and V8 Supercar championship leader Jamie Whincup.

Whincup was controversially black-flagged with just eight laps remaining as he looked set to extend his championship lead.

His Holden's rear bumper was left dangling after a nudge from James Courtney, forcing officials to issue a black flag.

But another whack from Courtney knocked off the errant bumper, though officials still demanded Whincup pit to observe the penalty and his race was over.

Tander started the 250km-second leg from pole and battled Whincup for the lead for most of the race.

An unsafe kerb at turn eight brought out the safety car with just 20 laps left.

And the safety car could not have come at a better time for Tander, who was running desperately low on fuel after adopting risky two-stop strategy.

The slow laps under caution gave his Commodore breathing space and allowed the reigning Bathurst champion to run to the flag in front of Ford duo Courtney and Mark Winterbottom.

"The Sunday race in Adelaide just never fails to deliver, does it? I wasn't sure that we were ever going to have a safety car. We went for a long time before we did and the pace was strong," Tander said.

"We committed to 'two-stopping' quite early, and stretched the first fuel window as far as it could go."

When we didn't stop the third time when the safety car came out we were rolling the dice. We were hoping the safety car would go a couple laps and it went a couple more than we needed."

"It was tight and there's not a lot of fuel left in the tank. Then, when the rain came, it was on for young and old," he said.

Tander's win was Holden's sixth straight for the 2010 season and Holden's seventh Clipsal 500 victory in its 12-year history.

"It was hard to be at the front and you didn't know how hard to push. I locked (the brakes) up on a couple white lines at turn four and Jamie got through, but I managed to get him back (a couple laps later)," Tander said.

After entering the event 22nd in points, Tander now sits 11th and Davison one spot behind.

Tander is now eligible to win the V8 Supercar Grand Slam which was announced on the weekend – if he can also win the Bathurst, Gold Coast and Sydney events, Tander will claim the $2 million bonus.

Top 10 Championship

Jamie Whincup Commodore 771
Mark Winterbottom Falcon 714
James Courtney Falcon 696
Shane van Gisbergen Falcon 630
Lee Holdsworth Commodore 573
Craig Lowndes Commodore 552
Rick Kelly Commodore 530
Paul Dumbrell Falcon 489
Michael Caruso Commodore 462
Steve Johnson Falcon 455

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images

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