Tander wins race one in Adelaide

Despite getting the jump at the start and leading the opening laps of the race, Tander spent the middle section of the race behind Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup.

However, at the final restart he was able to take advantage of better tyre condition to take the lead at the hairpin and from there he never looked back, taking a comfortable win, his first V8 Supercar race victory in Adelaide.

After qualifying 16th, second place was a tremendous performance by Jim Beam Racing's James Courtney. Having the fortune to make his first stop just before the first safety car period worked in his favour, as he moved up to third after those who hadn't pitted uder the safety car made their stops under racing conditions.

He took second place from Whincup soon after the final restart but was unable to catch the race winner as fuel economy worries loomed.

Lee Holdsworth took third with three laps remaining after a quite but strong race. He gained the place after Jamie Whincup, who led through the middle of the race, was compromised on pace after the final restart.

A lack of fresh front tyres for Whincup cost him places to Tander and Courtney, and worries about fuel consumption saw him let Holdsworth through within sight of the chequered flag, falling to fourth after probably having the pace to continue his winning start to the season.

Fifth was a good result for Paul Dumbrell despite a bit of up and down throughout the race, leading after the first safety car period after staying out, and then losing eight places in two laps soon after as the field filed past him.

In the final segment of the race he passed Whincup for third place, but six laps later Whincup as well as Holdsworth got ahead of him, dropping him back to fifth.

Jason Bright, Fabian Coulthard and Michael Caruso, who started the race from pitlane filled sixth through eighth place

Tander's team-mate Will Davison played the same strategy as Courtney at the first safety car and made similar gains, and recovered from an incident late in the race with Craig Lowndes which dropped him back down the order to finish in ninth, with Russell Ingall completing the top ten.

A pair of Ford frontrunners had dramas, Shane van Gisbergen clipping the tyres at the first chicane while running third right on the tail of Tander, breaking his front suspension, finishing 22nd, one place behind Mark Winterbottom who suffered damage to his car after getting caught up in a nose-to-tail incident soon after the first restart.

Only two places ahead of him was Craig Lowndes, who also suffered for car speed after being in the middle of Winterbottom's incident, Lowndes not helping his situation later in the race when he spun Will Davison after going in too deep passing Rick Kelly at the hairpin, Lowndes given a drivethrough penalty for the contact.

Pos  Driver                Make                  Time
 1.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE   1h59m06.5574s
 2.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon FG        +     4.0420s 
 3.  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE   +     6.4380s  
 4.  Jamie Whincup         Holden Commodore VE   +     8.8801s  
 5.  Paul Dumbrell         Ford Falcon FG        +     9.1506s  
 6.  Jason Bright          Holden Commodore VE   +    14.7726s 
 7.  Fabian Coulthard      Holden Commodore VE   +    15.5416s 
 8.  Michael Caruso        Holden Commodore VE   +    15.9973s 
 9.  Will Davison          Holden Commodore VE   +    16.6264s 
10.  Russell Ingall        Holden Commodore VE   +    23.9269s 
11.  Alex Davison          Ford Falcon FG        +    25.8030s 
12.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon FG        +    29.8968s 
13.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +    31.6029s 
14.  Tony D'Alberto        Holden Commodore VE   +    32.0715s 
15.  Jonathon Webb         Ford Falcon FG        +    32.5275s 
16.  Dean Fiore            Ford Falcon FG        +    39.6769s 
17.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon FG        +    46.8233s 
18.  Daniel Gaunt          Holden Commodore VE   +  1m04.2621s 
19.  Craig Lowndes         Holden Commodore VE   +  1m15.4790s 
20.  Tony Ricciardello     Holden Commodore VE   +  1m16.1124s 
21.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon FG        +      3 laps
22.  Shane Van Gisbergen   Ford Falcon FG        +      4 laps
23.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE   +     12 laps

Not classified/retirements:

     Driver                Make                  Laps
     Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE    39 
     Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE    38 
     Karl Reindler         Holden Commodore VE    31 
     Tim Slade             Ford Falcon FG         12 
     Jason Bargwanna       Holden Commodore VE     2