V8 Supercars: Local Hero Tander Quickest In BigPond 400

Garth Tander

May 09, 2008

Reigning V8 Champion Garth Tander produced the quickest lap in the #1 Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore to head the field following today’s practice for the BigPond 400 at Perth’s Barbagallo Raceway – the fourth round of the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series.

Tander, also the defending Barbagallo round winner, produced a 56.5381sec lap to head Ford drivers Steven Richards and Craig Lowndes, with Holden’s Russell Ingall fourth quickest.

Mark Skaife finished the session sixth quickest in the #2 Toll HRT Commodore, less than three-tenths slower than his team-mate – the top 26 cars separated by less than one second.

Qualifying for the BigPond 400 begins at 10.50 tomorrow morning (WA time), with the first of the weekend’s three 50 lap races starting at 2.00pm.

Garth Tander, #1 Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE:

“Today’s been a good start and I’m very happy with how things went. We learnt a lot today and improved the car all the way through the session. Like Mark, we had pretty good speed on used tyres and while there’s no doubt qualifying is important, having tyre life and making the car live is even more critical – especially here.”

Mark Skaife, #2 Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE:

“Today was a solid day for the Toll Holden Racing Team and a positive start to the weekend. My Toll HRT Commodore was good and flowed very nicely. It was really good on race tyres and is definitely a better race car than qualifier. On new tyres we only found half the gain others did, so we’ve got to make that better, but other than that it was a positive day.”

2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series, Rd 4 – BigPond 400, Barbagallo, WA (Practice)

1. Garth Tander, Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE
2. Steven Richards, Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon BF
3. Craig Lowndes, Team Vodafone Ford Falcon BF
4. Russell Ingall, Supercheap Auto Racing Holden Commodore VE
5. Mark Winterbottom, Ford Performance Racing Ford Falcon BF
6. Rick Kelly, HSV Dealer Team Holden Commodore VE
7. Mark Skaife, Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE
8. Lee Holdsworth, Valvoline Cummins Race Team Holden Commodore VE
9. Greg Murphy, Sprint Gas Racing Holden Commodore VE
10. Jamie Whincup, Team Vodafone Ford Falcon BF