Tander battles to win race two

Tander fought changing weather and track conditions, traffic and Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup to take a narrow victory over the Team Vodafone driver. Tander's teammate Rick Kelly completed the top three placings.

At the start, Steven Richards took the lead from race one winner Whincup. Things remained fairly static as the wet track slowly began to dry out.

Mark Skaife was one of the first drivers to pit, taking slicks as a dry line had begun to form. Tander and Whincup were also in for tyres soon after Skaife, but a slow stop for Tander dropped him behind Whincup.

When Rick Kelly pitted for tyres the lead returned to Steven Richards, who was enjoying a good lead when it disappeared as the safety car came out for Lee Holdsworth, who had backed his car heavily into the wall at turn four.

Removing Holdsworth's car took several laps, long enough for the weather to change, as rain was now falling. About half the field pitted, including leader Richards, handing the lead to Whincup ahead of the Toll duo of Tander and Kelly.

The race eventually restarted just after half distance, Tander diving inside Whincup to take the lead at turn three. However, by now the rain had stopped once more and it soon became clear those who had 'gambled' on staying out on slicks had made the right decision.

Tander and Whincup remained close together, as a few more drops of rain on some parts of the circuit continued to confuse the situation. Some of the drivers who changed to wets went back to slicks, rejoining the field almost a lap down on the leaders.

Traffic was playing a role in the battle for the lead, with Whincup able to steal the lead from Tander while they were trying to lap Dumbrell. However, a couple of laps later, Tander was able to drive back past Whincup down the pit straight to retake the lead.

Despite some more trouble with traffic in the closing laps, Tander was just able to hold off Whincup to the flag.

Pos  Driver                Car                   Laps
 1.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE    40
 2.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon BF         40
 3.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    40
 4.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE    40
 5.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon BF         40
 6.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon BF         40
 7.  Steve Owen            Holden Commodore VZ    40
 8.  Russell Ingall        Ford Falcon BF         40
 9.  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon BF         40
10.  Andrew Jones          Ford Falcon BF         40
11.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    40
12.  Paul Radisich         Ford Falcon BF         40
13.  Shane Price           Holden Commodore VE    40
14.  Will Davison          Ford Falcon BF         40
15.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon BF         39
16.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon BF         39
17.  Mark Skaife           Holden Commodore VE    39
18.  Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE    39
19.  Fabian Coulthard      Holden Commodore VZ    39
20.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon BF         39
21.  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VZ    39
22.  Jason Bargwanna       Ford Falcon BF         39
23.  Dean Canto            Holden Commodore VE    39
24.  Alan Gurr             Ford Falcon BF         39
25.  Paul Dumbrell         Holden Commodore VE    39
DNF  Simon Wills           Ford Falcon BF         38
DNF  John Bowe             Ford Falcon BF         33
DNF  Max Wilson            Ford Falcon BF         32
DNF  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VZ    16
DNF  Paul Morris           Holden Commodore VE    14
DNF  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE    13