HSV Dealer Team
The Toll Holden Racing Team’s Garth Tander has claimed yet another V8 Supercar round podium with third overall at the SKYCITY Triple Crown at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin today.
After finishing a distant third to rival Mark Winterbottom in yesterday’s first race, Tander looked set for a comfortable second in Race 2 this morning but took a sensational race win after passing leader Steven Richards’ Falcon on a restart – the Safety Car having been called by officials to clear an errant Holden flag from the track!
In this afternoon’s final 42 lapper, Tander brought his Toll HRT Commodore home third to secure his fourth podium result in six rounds this season.
The weekend wasn’t so kind for team-mate Mark Skaife. After finishing 25th yesterday, Skaife produced a stunning drive in the #2 Toll HRT Commodore to come from rear of field to finish eighth in Race 2. But it all went wrong again for the five time champion this afternoon when he was hit from behind by fellow Holden driver Jason Richards while entering the pits for his compulsory stop in Race 3.
The impact severely bent the rear of Skaife’s Commodore, splitting the water tanks for the brake cooling and changing the rear wing angle, negating its effect. Skaife battled on, slipping and sliding his way to finish the race 18th and the round 16th.
Steven Richards won the SKYCITY Triple Crown for Ford Performance Racing, his first since crossing back to Ford last year, his team-mate Winterbottom making it a 1, 2 for FPR in a controversial weekend for the blue oval.
Winterbottom continues to head the championship points table, increasing his lead over Tander by six to 78 points.
The Toll Holden Racing Team will remain in Darwin for the next few days preparing the cars for the next round of the championship which takes place at Queensland Raceway in two weeks time (18-20 July).
Garth Tander, #1 Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE: “Third’s a great result for the team and a great fight back after Sandown – people were questioning our performance there and I think we’ve answered them. We changed the car considerably after yesterday’s race and we closer after Race 2, which gave us direction for the final. The problem was the way my Toll HRT Commodore used its tyres yesterday we didn’t have the rubber to do a good enough job. Our pace was pretty good towards the end and Mark [Winterbottom] was making a lot of mistakes and locking up [tyres]. I thought we could pressure him into making a mistake but it wasn’t to be and we came home third. The last three or four rounds last year were difficult and this year’s going to be no different; the competition has stepped up again and whoever wins the championship will deserve it.”
Mark Skaife, #2 Toll Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VE: “Russell Ingall’s wife, Julia, said to me this morning that I wouldn’t get anywhere near Russell today and I was fired up for the challenge. Race 2 was very, very good, the car was strong and I could see the back of Russell’s Commodore. I was sixth when I headed to the pits in Race 3 and then all of a sudden ‘BANG’! I was looking for the 40 km/h line and didn’t see Jason coming. Looking at the vision, he wouldn’t have made it into the pits – it smashed the rear up bad, we virtually had no wing and the problems just snowballed from sliding around.”
