Tander dominates Homebush race one

Tander led for most of the race apart from a period after the first safety car where Lee Holdsworth jumped him in the pits, and then Jamie Whincup led before an error at Turn 1 on the restart after the second safety car allowed Tander to sneak through and run away from then on.

Second was Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom who kept out of trouble all day and made his way forward, with third place taken by Fujitsu Racing's Jason Bright, who vaulted up the order at the third safety car period. The team's decision to pit at the previous safety car dramatically shortened Bright's stop at the third caution and gained him over ten places at the final stop.

In the closing laps Bright had his hands full, with Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup looking for a way past. Whincup would have been second if he had not outbraked himself under safety car conditions after exiting the pits on new tyres, dropping several places in the order for the final restart.

With two laps remaining, it looked like Whincup might find a way past as Bright locked up at the end of the back straight and ran wide.

Whincup looked left and right but could not get past, and as he tried to make a move ran a little bit off-line, losing grip and allowing Lee Holdsworth, who was sitting right behind them, to sneak through ahead of Whincup into fourth place.

Holdsworth was recovering after leading the race early in the event before getting caught out on fluid dropped after Paul Dumbrell slammed into Dean Fiore at the first chicane. Holdsworth ended up in the tyres before the safety car then made an appearance, but it was too late to stop him dropping from first to 23rd.

Fifth for Whincup was more than good enough to clinch the title as he secured back-to-back championships for himself just as the team prepares to switch marques for 2010.

His only championship rival, Will Davison, had a terrible day. After qualifying 17th, he struggled for pace throughout the race, and remained mired in the pack. Soon after he made his second pitstop, he outbraked himself at Turn 1 as he approached Whincup's team-mate Craig Lowndes.

Lowndes, who had just clouted the fence at the final turn, turned in as late as he could but Davison was going straight ahead and the two made contact, damaging the steering on both cars. Lowndes was forced to pit immediately while Davison soldiered on.

Davison's day got just that little bit worse, as he received a drivethrough penalty for the contact, before recovering in the closing laps to finish 15th.

There were also drivers whose day looked set for a great result but ended with them well down the order.

Jim Beam's James Courtney made up a few places during the final safety car period and was running in third place. But with less than 20 laps to go he was forced to pit by officials to shut a driver's door that kept opening. He was had to pit again three laps later when the repair failed to keep the door shut.

Cameron McConville looked set for a podium at the start, pressuring Whincup through the middle of the race. But just after making his final pitstop, he hit the tyres at Turn 8, bringing out the safety car and ending his day.

With just one race remaining for the season, Whincup leads Will Davison by 332 points. But Davison's poor finish and Tander's win has seen the gap between the two Holden Racing Team team-mates shrink to 38 points.

Davison must finish close to Tander in tomorrow's race to maintain second position, as another result like today will see Tander leapfrog ahead of him despite Davison having entered the round as the only driver with a chance of beating Whincup to the title.

Pos  Driver                Make                  Time
 1.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE   2:05:49.8020
 2.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG        +     2.8348 
 3.  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon FG        +     8.0839 
 4.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE   +     8.5096 
 5.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon FG        +    10.6762
 6.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE   +    18.6685
 7.  Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE   +    20.5039
 8.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        +    20.8234
 9.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +    21.2858
10.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        +    31.2491
11.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE   +    33.7910
12.  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE   +    35.0338
13.  Fabian Coulthard      Ford Falcon FG        +    36.3815
14.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +    49.8013
15.  Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE   +  1:03.2496
16.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE   +  1:24.0917
17.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        +     1 lap 
18.  David Reynolds        Holden Commodore VE   +     1 lap 
19.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon FG        +    17 laps
20.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        +    18 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make                  Laps
     Tim Slade             Holden Commodore VE    71 
     Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE    58 
     Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG         57 
     Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE    48 
     Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VE    41 
     Dean Fiore            Holden Commodore VE    24 
     Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE    24 
     Michael Patrizi       Ford Falcon BF          9 
     Mark McNally          Holden Commodore VE     2