HRT Holden scored their first win of the season when former V8 Supercar champion Garth Tander prevailed in the first race at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide today.
Tander passed polesitter and current champion Jamie Whincup after the fuel and tyre stop on lap 58 and went on to win from James Courtney and Lee Holdsworth.
After an encouraging qualifying performance from the New Zealanders with four kiwis in the top 12 on the grid, it was Fabian Coulthard who proved best in the Bundaberg Red Holden, finishing seventh.
Shane Van Gisbergen, Jason Richards, Coulthard and Greg Murphy all featured in the top 12 in qualifying, but Murphy and Richards did not finish, forced out mid-race while Van Gisbergen, after pressuring Tander in third, broke a suspension pin when he clipped a tyre barrier and limped home in 22nd.
Determined to show his speed after a rocky start to the season, Coulthard earned himself a spot in his first top 10 shootout for 2010, and placed himself in a strong position early. He made a charge in the last half of the race and was as high as fourth before slipping back to seventh.
Tander became the first man to beat Whincup this year with his first career Clipsal 500 win to end what had been a miserable start to a new season.
Tander led the Red Army to an emphatic victory on a dramatic day, in which Whincup’s TeamVodafone made an uncharacteristic tyre error that cost him a chance of victory and Jim Beam Racing’s Courtney again proved a street track specialist.
Tander was virtually untouchable in difficult conditions, bringing the Toll HRT team back to the winner’s circle after returning from the Middle East with just a handful of points.
“We are just a couple of race teams struggling to do the best we can,” Tander said of his Walkinshaw Racing outfit after the horrendous results in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
“It’s important for the guys in the garage to understand that they know what they are doing, that they are still a force to be reckoned with and that nothing has changed from the core group of people that won the teams Championship last year.”
Courtney, who won the last race of 2009 at the Sydney Telstra 500 but was unable to convert that form fully in the Middle East, battled low fuel towards the end but at least now has a car he is becoming happy with.
“This year is all about this year finishing as high as we can with the car we have got and not pushing it too hard. To get this result will pick everyone up and get ready for tomorrow. It’s good for team morale.”
And there we no excuses from Whincup who retains a commanding Championship lead.
“We found ourselves really low on fuel towards the end of the race, so we took the smart option to finish fourth rather than making another stop like Craig (Lowndes),” Whincup said. “Overall it’s important to stay positive, we put up a great fight today and it is what you do on the tough days that helps build a strong team.”
Pure bad luck ended a fantastic run by SP Tools Racing’s Van Gisbergen ended any chance of a podium, just as the young New Zealander had shifted into third place on the track but with one less pit stop than those around them.
Any strategy was thrown out the window when he shaved a little too much from a tyre bundle, smashing a pin his front suspension and leaving the left hand tyre virtually falling off the axle. The subsequent repairs shifted him back into 22nd.
Of the other New Zealanders, Steven Richards finished 17th and Daniel Gaunt has his best finish of the season in 18th.
There is a further qualifying period tomorrow ahead of the second 250km race.
Race 1 results
1 Garth Tander Commodore VE
2 James Courtney Falcon FG
3 Lee Holdsworth Commodore VE
4 Jamie Whincup Commodore VE
5 Paul Dumbrell Falcon FG
6 Jason Bright Commodore VE
7 Fabian Coulthard Commodore VE
8 Michael Caruso Commodore VE
9 Will Davison Commodore VE
10 Russell Ingall Commodore VE
11 Alex Davison Falcon FG
12 Steven Johnson Falcon FG
13 Todd Kelly Commodore VE
14 Tony D'Alberto Commodore VE
15 Jonathon Webb Falcon FG
16 Dean Fiore Falcon FG
17 Steve Richards Falcon FG
18 Daniel Gaunt Commodore VE
19 Craig Lowndes Commodore VE
20 Tony Ricciardello Commodore VE
21 Mark Winterbottom Falcon FG
22 Shane van Gisbergen Falcon FG
23 Rick Kelly Commodore VE
24 Jason Richards Commodore VE
25 Greg Murphy Commodore VE
26 Karl Reindler Commodore VE
27 Tim Slade Falcon FG
28 Jason Bargwanna Commodore VE
