Tander takes pole at Eastern Creek
Reigning V8 Supercar champion Garth Tander topped the times in qualifying to take pole position for race one of this weekend's V8 Supercar round at Eastern Creek
Tander repeated his session-topping form from leg two of qualifying to set the fastest time in the final leg with a 1:32.108, almost two tenths faster than the second-fastest car, that of Holden Racing Team teammate Mark Skaife who continued an eight-year streak of front row starts at the venue.
2006 series champion Rick Kelly was third fastest for the HSV Dealer Team, completing a Holden 1-2-3 at the head of the grid. The first Ford, in fourth, was Clipsal 500 victor Jamie Whincup, his Team Vodafone Falcon over four tenths slower than Tander's pole time.
Another strong performer in Adelaide, Cameron McConville, completes the top five, ahead of Will Davison, James Courtney and Lee Holdsworth who continues to impress for the Garry Rogers Valvoline Cummins team.
Team Vodafone's Craig Lowndes however just failed to make the top ten, and will start from 11th, just ahead of the Sprint Gas Racing duo of Jason Richards and Greg Murphy.
The biggest surprise of qualifying was the poor performance of Ford Performance Racing. Mark Winterbottom, who took four pole positions last season and qualified third two weeks ago in Adelaide, qualified 15th, four places better than his teammate Steven Richards in 19th.
Towards the rear of the grid 2005 champ Russell Ingall outpaced teammate Paul Morris at Supercheap Auto Racing, but still struggled and will start from 22nd position.
Pos Driver Make Time 1. Garth Tander Holden 1:32.1080 2. Mark Skaife Holden 1:32.2926 + 0.1846 3. Rick Kelly Holden 1:32.4431 + 0.3351 4. Jamie Whincup Ford 1:32.5097 + 0.4017 5. Cameron McConville Holden 1:32.7130 + 0.6050 6. Will Davison Ford 1:32.7527 + 0.6447 7. James Courtney Ford 1:32.7706 + 0.6626 8. Lee Holdsworth Holden 1:32.8409 + 0.7329 9. Paul Dumbrell Holden 1:33.4414 + 1.3334 10. Shane Van Gisbergen Ford 1:33.5298 + 1.4218 11. Craig Lowndes Ford 1:32.9004 + 0.7924 12. Jason Richards Holden 1:32.9008 + 0.7928 13. Greg Murphy Holden 1:32.9631 + 0.8551 14. Fabian Coulthard Ford 1:33.1648 + 1.0568 15. Mark Winterbottom Ford 1:33.2059 + 1.0979 16. Steven Johnson Ford 1:33.2060 + 1.0980 17. Jason Bright Ford 1:33.2151 + 1.1071 18. Todd Kelly Holden 1:33.2217 + 1.1137 19. Steven Richards Ford 1:33.2417 + 1.1337 20. Shane Price Holden 1:33.5257 + 1.4177 21. Andrew Jones Holden 1:33.4211 + 1.3131 22. Russell Ingall Holden 1:33.4562 + 1.3482 23. Michael Caruso Holden 1:33.5276 + 1.4196 24. Tony D'Alberto Holden 1:33.6992 + 1.5912 25. Paul Morris Holden 1:33.7036 + 1.5956 26. Andrew Thompson Holden 1:34.1044 + 1.9964 27. Chris Pither Ford 1:34.3881 + 2.2801 28. Marcus Marshall Ford 1:34.7003 + 2.5923
Share Or Save This Story
Australian legend Tander announced his retirement from Supercars
Friday favourite: When Aussie alpha males thrived at HRT
Friday favourite: The 'Toro Rosso' Holden Tander tamed for Supercars glory
How GM tech accelerated Cadillac's F1 entry
MotoGP chief defends officiating of Catalan GP
The F1 power unit formula solution that could suit all parties
How Aprilia's Barcelona collapse showed the pressures of leading MotoGP's title race
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments