Tander wins race one in Queensland

Tander ran second in the early laps after making a good start, barging his way past pole sitter Jamie Whincup into turn one, before sitting on Skaife's tail until the compulsory pit stops.

Tander pitted a lap earlier than Skaife, and with Skaife's exit from his pit bay being delayed by other cars heading into their pits, it was more than enough to allow Tander to move ahead. From that point onward Tander edged away from Skaife and was unchallenged for the win.

Third was James Courtney in his Stone Brothers Falcon, his good performance in qualifying backed up with an even better one in the race.

Behind Courtney were the Team Vodafone twins, Jamie Whincup ahead of Craig Lowndes. Whincup made a slow start and was third by turn two of lap one, losing another place to Courtney on lap three. He looked set to finish fifth behind Lowndes but passed him with five laps remaining as Lowndes struggled for pace.

Championship leader Rick Kelly finished seventh, one place ahead of brother Todd, never showing the pace that his teammate did on his way to winning the race.

Rick Kelly was under threat from Mark Winterbottom in the closing laps, who had an up and down race. Fifth at the end of lap one, he was looking to pass Whincup on the outside as they completed lap three. But instead he kept getting caught on the outside as a train of cars passed him for the next half of a lap, falling from fifth to ninth.

In the closing laps Winterbottom was on Kelly's tail, and a problem for Kelly exiting turn three on lap 34 of 38 gave Winterbottom a run, Winterbottom nudging the back of Kelly as he defended his position.

Winterbottom's fortunes soon changed. Instead of challenging Kelly for seventh, he was now falling back from him, losing three places (and nearly four) as he struggled for top-end speed in the remaining laps.

Pos  Driver                Car                   Laps
 1.  Garth Tander          Holden Commodore VE    38
 2.  Mark Skaife           Holden Commodore VE    38
 3.  James Courtney        Ford Falcon BF         38
 4.  Jamie Whincup         Ford Falcon BF         38
 5.  Craig Lowndes         Ford Falcon BF         38
 6.  Will Davison          Ford Falcon BF         38
 7.  Rick Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    38
 8.  Todd Kelly            Holden Commodore VE    38
 9.  Russell Ingall        Ford Falcon BF         38
10.  Mark Winterbottom     Ford Falcon BF         38
11.  Steven Johnson        Ford Falcon BF         38
12.  Paul Morris           Holden Commodore VE    38
13.  Steven Richards       Ford Falcon BF         38
14.  Jason Bargwanna       Ford Falcon BF         38
15.  Max Wilson            Ford Falcon BF         38
16.  Dean Canto            Holden Commodore VE    38
17.  Jason Bright          Ford Falcon BF         38
18.  Steve Owen            Holden Commodore VZ    38
19.  Greg Murphy           Holden Commodore VE    38
20.  John Bowe             Ford Falcon BF         38
21.  Steve Ellery          Holden Commodore VZ    38
22.  Simon Wills           Ford Falcon BF         38
23.  Paul Weel             Holden Commodore VE    38
24.  Andrew Jones          Ford Falcon BF         37
DNF  Lee Holdsworth        Holden Commodore VE    26
DNF  Jason Richards        Holden Commodore VE     9
DNF  Shane Price           Holden Commodore VE     6
DNF  Alan Gurr             Ford Falcon BF          5
DNF  Jack Perkins          Holden Commodore VE     1
DNF  Cameron McConville    Holden Commodore VE